


Symbiosis

by glowinglanterns



Category: Kuroko no Basuke | Kuroko's Basketball
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, F/M, Fluff, Gen, Humor, I hope that's okay, M/M, My version of university doesn't strictly follow the rules of Japan's universities, Slow Burn, deals with some real life problems too, i think, it's gonna be fun, mostly because I tried to understand it but found it a little confusing, they're just cute boys doing cute boy things
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-10-23
Updated: 2016-02-16
Packaged: 2018-04-27 17:20:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 31,012
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5057206
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/glowinglanterns/pseuds/glowinglanterns
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Symbiosis: the living together of two dissimilar organisms in a mutually beneficial relationship. </p><p>University third year Furihata Kouki had thought that he'd have his life together by now. But no. Instead, he was failing school, hesitantly getting to know a prince, and had somehow gotten himself caught up in the drama of reuniting a group of colourful-haired friends who claimed that they were just too different to coexist. Great.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Kuroko is an Asshole

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Poor Furihata has a bad day, ending up in a prince's dorm room. And then he gets some terrible news. 
> 
> Make that a bad two days.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some terms you will encounter:
> 
> Grade Point Average (GPA): the average number of grades earned over time. The highest is a 4.0 GPA. 
> 
> Academic Probation: At my university, at least, we have a thing where if your GPA falls below a certain number, you're put under academic probation, which is basically a warning telling you to get your shit together if you wanna keep studying here.
> 
> Registrar: It's basically the office at school that takes care of the technical bits of your enrollment.

“No… no, Kuroko… please don’t tell me you were serious,” I said to the door, with—I’d admit—a slight tone of begging.

I didn’t want to wake up the whole hallway. I did, however, want to get into my dorm room.

“I’m always serious,” was the soft yet firm reply. His voice sounded as if it was coming just from the other side of the door. The bastard.

I hit the wood of the door a few more times, “I’m sorry my sip was too big! I didn’t mean to finish the shake.”

“There was still more than a quarter of the shake left, Furihata-kun. You’ve managed to reach Kagami-kun’s level. So now I must discipline you as such.”

Giving up, I let out a loud, tired groan and sunk to the carpeted ground, directly in front of the door. “Fine, but I’m staying right here,” I hoped that the fact that I was sitting outside in the hallway at ten at night would trigger some sort of sympathetic feelings in him.

That seemed to be unlikely, as he answered from farther into the dorm, “Have a good night, Furihata-kun.”

Seeing as no one else was in the hallway, I allowed myself to pout and petulantly cross my arms across my chest. Great. Just great. I didn’t even have any books to study from, and my laptop battery had died a good while back. I had nothing to do. “Kuroko… let me in…” I whined to myself, hoping that Kuroko would somehow hear and take pity. I was met with silence.

To put it bluntly, I was having a bad day. I woke up late, and had to rush to my lecture. I really only had had enough time to grab my backpack. By the time I made it to my lecture (which had already started), and managed to find a seat (after accidentally tripping and falling into some scary looking girl’s lap), I opened my laptop to take notes, only to find it on its last twenty percent of battery. And my bag didn’t have my charger. After sifting a little deeper, I realized it also didn’t have my phone, my wallet, or my keys. Just some paper and pens, which was what I had to end up using for the rest of the day after my laptop died.

After the lecture, I was starving, but I did end up running into Kuroko. I explained the situation to him, and after hearing the rumble of my stomach, he lent me some money and allowed me a sip of his shake. But I accidentally finished it in one sip. His expression had darkened terrifyingly, and he promptly announced that he was locking me out of the dorm tonight before walking away.

I hadn’t expected him to be serious.

Now there I was on the floor of the hallway, with only my useless backpack as a companion.

After about ten minutes of angrily mumbling to myself and knocking half-heartedly on the door, I decided it was useless. I was stuck outside. I let out a huff of resignation, blowing my bangs out of my eyes. Fine. I’d remain outside, but I would stay _right there_. Right in front of the door. It would be the perfect revenge plan: having Kuroko find me cold and shivering in the morning. He would be consumed by guilt. A small smile started to grow on my face, my eyes narrowing. That was my “evil plotting” face.

With a questionable plan of revenge under my belt, I fluffed my backpack up as best as I could before laying my head onto it and curling up into a ball. This would show him.

Somehow, I did manage to fall asleep.

When I woke up, I was warm and blearily blinking at a whole lot of the colour red. What the hell was that? A dog? A person? I tried squinting, but that just made my vision swim more, bright blotches of colour blending into a painting I felt Van Gogh would appreciate. Whatever it was, it was gently nudging my shoulder.

“Wha…?” I slurred, reaching a hand up to rub the sleep from my eyes. It wasn’t working very well.

“Why are you sleeping on the floor?” it asked.

Still foggy, I waved a hand to get it (them? Him?) to stop shaking me, “Kuroko, he, uh… he luh-locked me out,” I somehow managed to get out, burrowing deeper into the warmth draped over me. “I gotta… gotta get revenge…”

With a huff of a laugh, the person—a guy, I thought?—nudged my shoulder once more, “Maybe you can try another method of revenge? I have a feeling that Kuroko would only gain satisfaction in seeing you like this. Though you do have a blanket.”

“Nuh… no I don’t,” I mumbled, already slipping back into the fluffy warmth of sleep.

“Hmm,” the voice hummed, but at that point, I had stopped trying to interact with them. “Come, you can stay in my room for the night.”

I didn’t respond, but did incoherently protest to being jostled.

The next time I woke up, I was really very comfortable. In fact, I was certain that last night’s events had all just been part of my imagination. I was in my dorm, after all. In my bed.

But the bed had a different scent, not one I was used to. Upon further inspection, I found that my posters were gone, and Kuroko’s mountain of books were nowhere to be found. They were instead replaced with what looked like equipment for every sport imaginable, and a neat shelf of thick books that definitely weren’t the novels Kuroko was prone to reading.

Had I been kidnapped? By a student at my school? Kuroko shouldn’t have left me outside. What was going to happen to me? The sunlight streaming through the window indicated it was daytime, but I didn’t know what time. Where was my bag? A series of panicked questions flooded my mind, and my hands began to shake as I tried to quietly untangle the blankets from my legs.

Ugh, I was still in my jeans. Day old clothes held such an uncomfortable feeling for me. Like being sticky, without the actual sticky texture. But this was not the time to think about these things, I was probably kidnapped, and I needed to get out of there right no—

The lock clicked and the door quietly swung open.

I froze.

A red haired person, perhaps my height, walked in with all the regality of a royal. His eyes automatically found their way to the bed, specifically to me. With all my power, I held back a squeak of surprise. Who the hell was this? My kidnapper? Instinctively, I pulled the covers right up to my eyes, staring at him. I couldn’t say anything, his presence had shocked any verbal capability right out of me.

“You’re awake now,” he stated. I remained quiet. I wasn’t kidding when I had said that he walked in with the regality of a royal.

A good portion of that was attributed to him actually looking as if he was a royal. He had eyes that, while red, should be described as _crimson_ , just out of respect for them. His hair matched his eyes in colour, and was tousled just enough to look effortlessly cool. He wore a loose V-neck t-shirt and jeans. It was a suspiciously simple outfit, but he made it work, nonetheless. Now I was even more intimidated. This person looked _cool_ , something I was _not_.

“It is usually customary to reply when someone speaks to you.”

I blinked, being pushed out of my thoughts, “B-but you didn’t say anything that… really needed a response…” I forced out, each word quieter than the last. I regretted the sentence about halfway in. Why did I have to say that? Judging by the incredulously raised brow he was sporting, that was not the expected response. I could have just apologized. I was such an idiot sometimes.

“I’ll say something else then, to fit your response-requiring criteria,” he crossed his arms and shut the door behind him before leaning against it. I shrunk back at the sarcasm. “I found you last night asleep in front of what I presume to be your dorm room. You said Kuroko locked you out, and since I could expect him to not let you back in-- because he’s petty-- I decided to allow you to rest in my room.”

“O-oh,” I pushed the covers away from me, successfully freeing the lower half of my body. So, I wasn’t kidnapped? With a bit of a struggle, I stumbled out of bed, straightening my shirt, then running my fingers through my hair. I had wild bed head in the morning, and potential kidnapper or not, this person was kind of cool. I had to seem at _least_ fourteen percent cool as well. “Um, well, thank you for not kidnapping me,” I then bowed. Just in case he really was a prince or something.

He waved his hand dismissively. “It was no problem,” then his eyes narrowed with slow realization, “wait, what did you sa—”

“ _Aaaah_ , well, I, uh, I need to go,” I awkwardly cut him off, forcing a grin and a false laugh. “I’ll… I’ll just take…” I took a moment to locate my bag leaning against the bed frame, immediately scooping it up when I found it, then backing away from the guy, who moved away possibly only out of surprise. “I’ll take _this_ and go. Th-thanks again, that was nice of you.” Behind me, my hands searched for the knob. Once I found it, I quickly let myself out with one more grin and a shaky wave of my hand. Then I shut the door.

I silently screamed into my hands. What had that _been_?

I had said the kidnapping thing out loud. Out loud! Why did I even open my mouth? He probably thought I was an idiot. Which, I suppose, would be correct, but that wasn’t the point.

Once I recovered the slightest bit from my embarrassment, I raised my face from my palms to look around the hallway. He lived on the same floor as me. How. How had I not noticed him before? Especially since he apparently knew Kuroko, well enough to recognize that he was “petty”.

Number 414. That was his room number. And I was all the way down the hall at number 403. That’s why I hadn’t noticed him. Trudging down the hall, I took advantage of the fact that it was daytime and started relentlessly banging my fist against my door the second I was facing it. “Let me in Kuroko, let me in! Let me in!”

“Furihata-kun, it isn’t good to shout,” a soft voice said from behind me. I yelled out in surprise and flattened my back against my door.

“K-Kuroko! You scared me!”

He shrugged, and used the back of his wrist to daintily nudge my arm away so that he could unlock the door, “Did you just wake up?”

“Y-yes. Some guy took me into his dorm. I think he knew you,” I reported, clutching the straps of my bag tightly just at the reminder of the embarrassment I suffered in front of him. He nodded, opening the door and letting himself in. I quickly followed before he decided to lock me out once more. You never knew with Kuroko.

After putting his bag down on his desk, he turned around to inspect me, “Where is my blanket?”

“Blanket?” I asked, confused. But I didn’t pay him much mind. Rather, I pulled out my towel and the tiny bag I used to carry my shampoo and soap. I was going to shower, because the clothes I was wearing right then felt exaggeratedly grimy.

He nodded, “Yes. I put it on you last night, while you were sleeping on the floor.”

I sharply turned my head towards him, eyes narrowed. While I didn’t remember that, I was incredibly miffed by the amused tone he was using. “Don’t you feel pity? You gave me a blanket, but didn’t bother letting me in?”

He mockingly exaggerated his expression to look offended, “I feel pity for many things. Small puppies that get their heads stuck in buckets, starving children, you,” he listed, counting them off on his fingers, “While I act on that sense of pity, on the other hand, is a different story.”

“You’re so mean,” I whined, grabbing some clothes at random and my keys (I was never leaving the room without them again) before marching out. “I’m gonna go shower. Maybe by the time I get back, you’ll be an actual human being with normal emotions.”

Kuroko chuckled slightly, “I sincerely doubt that, Furihata-kun.”

Grumbling, I slammed the door shut and stomped down the hallway towards the communal washroom. Before I could get very far, Kuroko opened the door to stick his head out.

“Please remember to bring my blanket back,” he said innocently, then shut the door again before I yelled at him.

 

x-x-x

 

“My blanket, Furihata-kun,” Kuroko reminded me two days later. Impatience was leaking into his tone, “Go get my blanket.”

I fixed him with the lovechild of a glare and a pout, “I just need to check my emails.”

His expression never wavered, “Now, please, Furihata-kun.” He stood there next to my bed, arms crossed, staring blankly at me. The only indication of any sort of emotion was in the slight dip of his brows. He was irritated.

Well, he shouldn’t have locked me out then, huh? Hah. One point for me.

But knowing anyone was mad at me—Kuroko specifically—left me feeling uneasy, so I sighed, grabbed my phone, and swung my legs off the bed and onto the floor, “Fine, Kuroko, I’ll go get your blanket.”

Instantly, his features smoothed out and he presented me with a small smile, “Thank you.”

I didn’t bother replying. Instead, I busied myself with multitasking: opening up the mail app on my phone, and putting my shoes on. Then, succeeding in the shoes, I absentmindedly stepped out and shut the door behind me, mechanically walking down the hall as I selected a new email I received from the Registrar’s office. I didn’t think I was expecting anything, so what could this have been?

I glanced up at the door numbers as the email loaded. 414. Number 414. That’s all I repeated, trying not to give myself any time to dwell over the fact that I was going to meet the prince again. If I did, I’d end up not going. Just focus on the email. Ah, 414.

Hesitating for only a few seconds, I quickly mustered up some courage and knocked twice on the door before bringing my attention to my phone. I took the opportunity to scan over the email before the door opened.

_Dear Mr. Furihata Kouki,_

_We regret to inform you that as a result of your grade point average falling below 1.60, you have been put under academic probation._

My reading was cut off by the door opening, and I looked up to stare wide-eyed at a wild looking blond boy.

“Uh, hello?”

Academic probation?

“Hello? You there, dude?”

Me? I knew that my grades had been slipping a little, but I wasn’t aware that it got to the point where my grade point average dipped below 1.60.

“Hey, Akashi, some guy is about to cry, can you take care of it?”

And then the door shut.

But I barely noticed. Academic probation. What would my parents say? Would I get kicked out of school? How the hell was I supposed to get out of academic probation? If I wasn’t getting good marks now, then how would I get them later? Oh no, did this mean that I wasted my parents' money? Was I really that stupid? Too stupid to get passing grades?

Red filled my vision again, the colour mixing with the off-white of the walls and the brown of the door. I couldn’t see his face clearly.

“Oh, it’s you again. Are you alright?”

The voice startled me enough to get me to finally blink, which allowed the tears that had apparently been gathering in my eyes to roll down my cheeks. “H-hi,” I started, voice wobbling uncontrollably. I still had something to do. The blanket. Yes. Yes. I had to get the blanket. I tried smile, but it probably came out looking watery. “I-I-I, u-um, I-I’m h-here f-f-for Kuro-Kuroko’s b-blanket.” I forced the words out, choking back sobs.

“Hayama,” his voice came, tinged with alarm, “as my senpai, I feel you are better equipped to deal with crying men.”

“No way, man, no, that’s Mibuchi’s thing. You do something, come on. He came for you.”

I couldn’t hold back anymore. A fresh wave of tears fell as I tilted my head forward and covered my face with my arm, sobbing heavily. I was stupid. Why was I even in university? What was a degree for? I was so useless, I couldn’t do even this right. I was so, so stupid.

“Do you need help?” A hand made its way onto my shoulder, and I, being the idiot that I was, immediately pulled myself further into any sort of comfort. Even if the comfort was coming from a kidnapping prince. I grabbed him by the front of his shirt and pressed my forehead against his shoulder, letting fat tears stain the expensive feeling fabric. “O-oh. Yes. Okay. We can do this as well. Yes.” He hesitantly patted my back. “Ah, actually, how about we go to Kuroko. You room with Kuroko, correct? Come. Please stop crying. It will be okay.”

And so he led me down the hall, carefully saying the same set of phrases over and over again in an attempt to make me feel better, but I just appreciated the arm around my shoulders.

The guy knocked on the door. Before I had known it, I was back in front of my room and Kuroko was opening the door. Then Kuroko’s face morphed into a terrifying glare, so scary that I shrunk back into the guy’s arm, halting my sobbing for a second.

“Akashi-kun. You’ve brought my roommate back to me crying,” he stated.

“Yes. I am not aware as to why he’s crying, however,” the guy clarified. Akashi. He was Akashi.

Kuroko turned to me, “Furihata-kun, why are you crying?”

I started sniffling again, but managed to reach into my pocket and hand over my phone, which was still open to the same email. Even in my current state, I noticed Akashi leaning forward ever so slightly to peer at the phone’s screen. Kuroko huffed in annoyance, but still tilted the phone to allow him a better view.

“Dear Mr. Furihata Kouki, we regret to inform you that as a result of your grade point average falling below 1.60, you have been put under academic probation. Please make an appointment with the Registrar’s office as soon as possible to discuss methods to get out of it. We hope you have a good day. Sincerely, the Registrar’s office,” Kuroko read aloud.

Silence fell over the three of us.

“I am sure that you can pull your grades up in no time. It might be possible that you only fell under by a few points,” Akashi broke the silence with the comment, managing to keep his voice neutral.

Kuroko swiped around on my phone a little bit more, then looked up at me with a deadpan look.

“Furihata-kun, how did you manage to let your GPA fall to 1.43?”

“1.43?” I cried, grabbing my phone from him, accidentally shaking off Akashi’s arm, to be able to look at the numbers. It was true. Right there, under the heading ‘cumulative GPA’, it said 1.43 in red. “I-I didn’t even know it got that bad!”

“Well, it got that bad.”

“Kuroko, this isn’t a time for your jokes,” Akashi chided. That had been a joke?

“I was trying to lighten the mood.”

“Please don’t.”

“What am I going to do?” I wailed, throwing my arms around Kuroko, hugging him tight. I needed comfort. And maybe something sweet. 

“I would suggest a tutor,” Akashi said, and Kuroko’s arms wound tightly around my back.

“Yes, well, thank you for your assistance Akashi-kun, goodbye,” And with that, he stepped back, pulling me into the room with him, and shut the door in Akashi’s face.

I lifted my head to furrow my brows at Kuroko.

“Th-that was actually kind of… not nice. Wow.” He was never not polite.

He sighed, then lifted his hand to ruffle my hair, “Right now, let’s focus on your problem instead, okay?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello!
> 
> This is my very first story on AO3, so I'm quite excited to share it! I would love any and all feedback you might have for me. Thank you so much for reading!
> 
> Love,  
> Me


	2. People Barge Into Our Room

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Furihata gets many visitors.

I wanted to be a biologist. I wanted to know everything there was to know about the human body, what made it work, what made it not work. Everything.

But now I was not so sure.

Sure, that passion remained in me. I still got excited every time I learned a new random fact about humans. It continuously managed to boggle my mind that we had such intricate inner workings, all striving toward keeping us alive. Every part was crucial to our survival, and it made me in awe over how complex it was just to exist on a second-to-second basis.

So at the end of high school I thought, hey, why didn’t I try for a biology degree? Maybe make my way up until I could become a researcher. Then I could learn new facts every single day. I could do it for a living.

But now, as I sat at my desk in my room, staring at a very detailed diagram of a brain, I was reevaluating my choices. It just didn’t seem very likely that I had the capacity to make it in a world of more driven people working for the same objective. I wasn’t completely certain anymore about the direction I was going in. Would I even make a good researcher? What would I research? How would I get the experience to actually become one? It just didn’t seem likely that I was going to get very far. But if I couldn’t do biology, what else could I do?

I mean, I had railways. Railways were also equally as interesting to me. I loved how they interconnected and parted ways, and how they also worked in such an intricate system to achieve one goal.  I could spend hours picking apart Tokyo’s underground railway system map.

I supposed it could be suggested that I drop biology and go into some sort of railway engineering type of degree. But here was the problem—I was exactly the same way with biology as well. I had the same passion for it, so what’s there to say that I wouldn’t lose interest in railways as well? For now, I guessed, I would have to stick with biology and make several offerings to any shrine I came across, with hope that someone (or something?) would eventually take pity on me and send me some help to deal with the future. 

It seemed like I would also have to give an offering in order to manage memorizing this stuff in time for my midterm exam. The midterm was a chance to boost my GPA. It was worth a lot, so if I didn’t do well, it was also a chance for it to sink my GPA down to the lowest pits of hell.

But I could do it. If I worked hard, I could do it. I had two weeks before the midterm. I could definitely do it.

“The myelin sheath helps with the action potential of a neural impulse when fired. It acts as an insulator, and the signal… _ugh_.” I dropped my face into my book.

I couldn’t do it.

_Knock… knock, knock, knock._

I lifted my head up with a sigh, “Kuroko? Did you lose the keys?” If he did, then I was going to leave him there. I still wasn’t over the mean stunt he pulled three days ago. Locking me out was a terrible thing to do, especially over a quarter of a milkshake.

“It’s not Kuroko,” was the muffled reply. 

“O-oh!” I jumped up, banging my knee on the underside of the desk. _Ouch_. “C-coming, sorry, one second.”

Limping as fast as I could to the door, I made sure I was at least half-presentable (should I change my shirt? I mean, how bad was a small sauce stain on the hem of the shirt, _really_?), before opening the door.

There stood the prince with a neutral expression on his face.

I slammed the door shut. Oh shit. Nope, no, a stain was very bad. Rushing over to my closet, I tore my shirt off and sifted through the pile that sat on the floor of the closet. Picking up one that I once received three whole compliments on, I sniffed it before deeming it okay, and tugged it over my head.

_Knock, knock, knock_. These knocks sounded more aggravated _._

“One moment please!” I cried out desperately, trying to get my arm untangled. Thankfully, my arm was freed and put in the appropriate opening. Satisfied, I smoothed down the shirt, ran a hand through my hair, and took a deep breath.

With a false sense of leisure, I went back to the door and pulled it open with my best smile. “H-hello, Akashi-san.” It felt wrong to speak to him so informally. Maybe I should have called him ‘Akashi-sama’. But that would have been weird.

He stood there with a deadpan look. It kind of mirrored Kuroko’s expression when Kagami had once told him that if it came down to a mountain of burgers and Kuroko, he’d choose the burgers. “Hello.”

And it was silent. A little uncomfortable, I rubbed my calf with the back of my foot and clutched the knob of the door tighter. Was he going to say anything? Or… or did I have to say something? But what could I say? He came here to my room. He probably had something to say. He wasn’t saying anything though. Oh, maybe he came for Kuroko?

“Uh, Kuroko is in class right now,” I informed him hesitantly, hoping that that was the correct thing to say.

He delicately furrowed his brows, “Okay?”

“Y-you don’t need to see him? I thought you knew each other,” I’d been wrong. Another embarrassment, brought to you by Furihata Kouki.

He shrugged almost daintily. It was such a soft, fluid motion that I was momentarily hypnotized by it. Who the hell shrugged like that? Why did I even care?

“I came to return your blanket. It was the original reason you came to my room the other night, right?” he offered the neatly folded cloth to me. I hadn’t even noticed it.

I carefully took the blanket from his hands, making sure I didn’t ruin the folding, “Ah! Thank you!” I pushed the door open wider with my foot before turning around to go inside and place the blanket on Kuroko’s bed. “Kuroko will be really happy to have this back. Sorry you had to bring it over.”

He waved away the apology, instead opting for analyzing the room. Self-consciously, I sidestepped over to my half of the room and used the side of my foot to nudge some wrappers under my bed.

Ah, I had to thank him for this. It would only be polite, “Would you like to come in, Akashi-san? I, um, I don’t have anything to give you, really,” I took a few steps to the closet and reached in to pull a box of snacks I kept hidden for whenever I felt snacky, “I mean, I have this,” I offered the box to him, then realized he was still standing by the threshold. “Come in, Akashi-san!”

“Alright, then,” he nodded, taking careful steps inside, and discarding his shoes next to mine by the door.

I raised the box towards him again, “Um, please take whatever looks good.”

He squinted at the contents of the box, “Then…” he reached in, sifting through the packaged foods before pulling out a Nerunerunerune and staring at it almost fondly, “I’ll be taking this then. Thank you.”

I glanced between him and the snack, which he was still looking at as if it was a picture of his parents. Should… should I leave the two of them alone for a minute? “You must really like Nerunerunerune.”

He blinked at me, finally peeling his eyes away, “What gave you that idea? I’ve never had it before.”

Shrugging, I grabbed a package at random then stowed the box back in my closet. Maybe I shouldn’t point out the staring thing to him, it’d be rude. Instead, I gestured towards my desk chair, “You wanna sit?”

He raised a brow at me, but went to sit at my desk without protest, glancing over at the textbook I had left open, “You’re a science major?” he asked. I sat down on my bed and tore open the snack (with the smallest bit of a struggle. Opening snack packaging was so hard).

“Biology,” I specified, not being able to suppress the small slump of my shoulders at the reminder of my failure of a major, “Maybe not for long, though.”

He opened his mouth with a questioning look, then paused, lips turning down into a frown, “Where do you think the problem is?”

“Um, for what?” I said, then shook some of the snack cookies into my palm, picking one up to toss into my mouth.

“Your grades. Why do you think they’re like that?” He clarified, toying with the edges of his own snack.

Oh. A little sheepish, I let out an uncomfortable smile, “Well, I… I am not sure. The stuff isn’t that hard to understand, and I like what I’m learning. Maybe I don’t put enough effort in?"

He hummed a short note in contemplation, “I see. So it’s due to your study habits.”

I shrugged, “Y-yeah, that might be it.” I quickly stuffed the rest of the cookies into my mouth so I wouldn’t have to talk anymore.

Akashi paused, taking a moment to scan the information in my textbooks and the writing in my notebook, before glancing back at me almost tentatively, “If you would be interested… I could give you some study tips?”

My eyes widened. The prince willingly offered to see me again? To help me? “I—” I broke off into a deep cough, wheezing a little when little cookie particles flew down my trachea. I was so surprised that I’d forgotten I still had stuff in my mouth.

Akashi almost stood up out of concern, but I waved a hand at him and did my best to smile to reassure him that I’d be okay. With a few more violent coughs, and thumping a fist against my chest, I managed to dislodge the piece that had gotten stuck.

We both sighed in relief.

“Um, to answer your offer, I would really appreciate tha—“

“Furihata-kun, you’ve left the door open. Anyone could walk in…” Kuroko stepped into the room, and broke off his scolding once he spied who was sitting my chair, “Ah, it seems that someone has already walked in.”

“Kuroko,” Akashi nodded.

“Akashi-kun,” he replied.

The atmosphere suddenly turned ten times colder, so I quickly stood up with a grin, “Kuroko! Akashi-san brought your blanket back for you.”

He glanced over at his bed, then back at me, “Thank you, Akashi-kun.” He didn’t even look at Akashi when he said that. Before I could say anything, Akashi stood up.

“I’ll be going then. Thank you for the snack, Furihata,” He said. I jolted a little. That was the first time I’d heard him say my name. It sent a small shiver through me, and I kind of wanted him to repeat my name about a hundred more times.

But I quickly recovered, “Yeah, no problem.”

He stepped past Kuroko to put his shoes back on, “Visit me tomorrow afternoon, I’ll give you some pointers for studying.” He straightened once he was done and gave me the smallest of smiles. “I would offer to tutor, but I’m a business major myself.”

I shook my head earnestly, with a wide eyed expression, “No, no, just this is more than enough. I’m a complete stranger to you. I’ll owe you something back.” I took a few steps closer to open the door for him.

His smile grew wider, and he pressed his lips together for a moment as if suppressing a laugh, “We’ll negotiate payment if the tips actually have a good effect on your marks.” He turned his head slightly, nodding at Kuroko, before giving me one more smile and walking out the door.

I poked my head out into the hallway to see his retreating back, “Th-thank you again, Akashi-san! I’ll see you tomorrow!”

He paused long enough to twist his torso slightly towards me, “See you tomorrow, Furihata.” Then he left.

I came back inside and shut the door, before sighing.

“You’re smiling,” Kuroko stated, sitting on his bed with his phone in hand.

“Hmm?” I sat at my desk, rolling my shoulders to prepare myself for some more hellish studying. Maybe with Akashi’s help, I wouldn’t find this so painful anymore.

“Do you have a crush on him?”

I nearly fell off my chair, “Wh-what!” I steadied myself with the desk and swiveled the chair around to stare at Kuroko. “Why would I have a crush on him! I barely know the guy!”

He shrugged, “Akashi-kun has his own charm.” Flipping his phone shut, he leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. “Don’t have a crush on Akashi-kun, please.”

I didn’t have a response for this. I didn’t have a crush on the prince, and even if I did, why was he telling me no? Kuroko was usually very supportive. In fact, on more than one occasion he had helped me hook up with people. He was one of the best wingmen I knew.

Did he not like Akashi? It would make sense… when he came into the room, he didn’t seem very happy to see Akashi there. And he shut the door in his face the other day. “Kuroko… do you, um, not like Akashi-kun?”

He leaned back in surprise, tossing his phone on his bed spread, “I tolerate him.”

I wheeled my chair closer to him, “Yeah, but do you not like him?”

Kuroko turned his face away, before sighing, the tension leaving his shoulders, “He and I are not on the best terms for now.”

They had history, it seemed, “O-oh…”

His eyes slid in my direction, then sighed again, “You really want to know the story, don’t you.”

I ducked my head, trying to hide my grin, “A little…”

I’d only met Kuroko at the beginning of this year—my third year—because we were assigned to be roommates. As such, I had only met a handful of his friends, and knew very little about him. Though, it was comforting to know that we had a few mutual friends as well.

“Well then, I suppose I have to tell you,” he smiled slightly, then cleared his throat. “So, Akashi-kun and I were in a group of six friends who all met during orientation week. We kind of ended up meeting simply because we all loved basketball. We all were… close, I guess, now that I think about it. We had fun.” He twiddled with his fingers, then pulled his knees up to his chin, resting his head on them. “But at the end of our first year, something happened.”

I gasped, “An explosion?”

Kuroko chuckled lightly, biting his lip, “No, not an explosion. That, maybe, would have been better.”

Worse than an explosion? Oh goodness.

He continued, “So, though we all loved basketball, the similarities basically ended there. We were all quite different, you see. Our interests began to diverge into separate roads, and slowly, we began to not see each other as much. It wasn’t anything out of spite, of course. We just got into different clubs and things like that. But then we had holidays, so we didn’t see each other as much until the next spring.”

Kuroko took a shuddering breath, wrapping his arms more tightly around his legs.

“Then, at the beginning of our second year, one of my friends said that there was no use staying with us, because none of us were as fully invested in basketball as he was, and even the people who were invested in it, they weren’t as good as him. So he just wanted to distance himself from everyone. I… I think someone said something to him that made him feel isolated, and so he pushed everyone away. It hurt because… because we were very close.”

I reached out to put an arm on Kuroko’s forearm, “You don’t have to tell me everything, I’m sorry for making you.”

He shook his head, “No, you deserve to know why I’m not as polite with Akashi. I’ll continue then. Akashi was sort of our leader. And a while after the first friend left, another one decided that he would leave as well. He said he would leave because he could be doing better things with his time, something that was actually useful. He pretended he didn’t like basketball, and since that was the one thing holding us together, he said there was no use in being around us. He was really good at basketball, so I guess it didn’t hold any interest for him anymore. So Akashi, wanting to prove him wrong, said that he’d challenge him to a basketball game, to prove that he still liked it.”

Kuroko curled in on himself, “It was very scary. That friend almost beat Akashi, until something happened in Akashi to awaken a different part of him. Akashi ended up beating that friend, of course, but since then, Akashi had changed. It was like he was a different person. That friend did end up leaving anyway, and then Akashi said something horrible. He said… he said that friendships and whatnot were useless if they weren’t very productive. So then, he kind of left as well, you could say.”

Wow, and there were two more friends to go, and it was only getting more and more sad, “Kuroko, I think… I think you should not—”

“Kuroko!” The door was banged on multiple times, until the knob turned and it swung open, revealing Kagami and his brother, Himuro. I didn’t think they were actually brothers. Kagami had once told me that they were practically brothers, they just didn’t have the same blood. He said they grew up together in America. That worked for me. “Kuroko! Come play in a game with us, we need one more person!”

Kagami was like a very large burst of sunlight. It was sometimes hard to look at him directly, because he was so intense. But he was ultimately very harmless, and very fun to be around.

Kuroko and Kagami were very good friends, and they played basketball a lot. Usually, if they weren’t playing basketball, Kuroko was supervising Kagami, because all Kagami thought about was basketball, and not much else. Apparently that got him into trouble. Himuro and Kuroko had days they alternated to make sure Kagami wasn’t flunking out of any classes, or not overworking himself with the playing.

Himuro, on the other hand, was his complete opposite. He was almost cold, and had the untouchable beauty of a statue. But he was a very nice person. It just took me a while to figure that out, because I was so intimidated by him.

Kuroko looked at me to see if that was okay. I nodded and pushed my chair so that it was back at my desk, “You guys have fun. I’ll be here… studying.” I made a face of distaste at the book that was still open to the same page from two hours ago.

Himuro stepped into the room, “You could use a break, Kouki. Why don’t you come watch?”

I stood up embarrassingly fast, “Yes!”

Kagami burst out into full-bellied laughs, “You’re just as bad as me!”

Just as bad as Kagami? Oh I was in trouble. Wanting to disprove him, I grabbed my textbook off of my desk, “I’m not that bad yet, Kagami-kun, please.”

Kagami looked betrayed, and that prompted some chuckling from Himuro. He lifted his fist to bump knuckles with me, “Nice, Kouki, nice.”

“Shut up!” Kagami whined, then abruptly turned to Kuroko. “Hurry up, they’re gonna start soon!”

“Alright, Kagami-kun, we’re coming,” Kuroko replied, picking up his bag and looking back at me for a moment before heading out the door after his energetic companion. Himuro clapped his hand on my shoulder and followed after the pair. I shut the door behind me as I left.

Kuroko and Kagami headed directly to the court, while Himuro came to drop me off at the stands. As we made our way up the stairs, Himuro started waving.

I looked around, trying to find who Himuro was waving at, until I saw a huge, _huge_ purple person lumbering their way towards us. I let out a little cry of surprise and stepped back, “H-Himuro-kun! Who’s that!”

He laughed in his usual light way and pushed me towards the purple haired giant until I was standing right in front of him. The giant looked down at me with a bored expression.

“Kouki, this is Atsushi. Atsushi, this is Kouki,” Himuro introduced, then looked past Atsushi’s huge form. “Oh, they’re calling me. I’ll go. You two keep each other company, okay?” And then he left.

He was leaving me with this person? Oh, Himuro was so cruel.

I had to tilt my head all the way up just to make eye contact, “Sh-shall we s-sit, A-Atsushi-san?” I couldn’t keep the stutter out of my voice, because he was a whole new brand of intimidating.

Atsushi nodded and (with a little difficulty) made his way into an empty row of bleachers and sat down right in the middle. Hesitantly, I followed after him, then took the chair to his left.

Atsushi huffed and crossed his arms, and I began gnawing my bottom lip in worry. Was I bothering him? Was he mad? Would he hurt me?

But no, Atsushi turned to me with a pout that was surprisingly child-like, and gestured towards his legs in frustration, “They don’t fit in these stupid chairs,” he muttered angrily.

My eyes widened in realization. That made sense. Looking down, Atsushi’s legs were all folded up in a way that _had_ to be painful. Taking a deep breath to calm myself, I said, “Why d-don’t you, uh, hang your legs over the chair in front of you?”

Atsushi looked like he was carefully considering this, glancing over to the empty chair in front of him, and at his own legs. But then he sighed after he glanced out into the court, where the players were warming up, “Muro-chin would yell at me then.”

Muro-chin… ah, Himuro? This giant person wasn’t scary at all, if they were worried about being yelled at by Himuro for such a small thing. It was kind of cute, even. So I shook my head, “No, Atsushi-san, that’s okay, I’ll tell him it was my idea. You’re really uncomfortable, right? It’s not your fault. It’s the school’s fault for making the aisles too small.”

Atsushi’s eyes, which were partially covered by his long purple hair, widened in realization, and he broke out into a small grin, “Yeah, it’s the school’s fault. Thanks, Kou-chin.”

“Chin?” I questioned shyly, watching him stretch out his legs in front of him. They were very long. Very, very long. It was almost amazing. I wondered how tall he was.

Shoulders relaxing at the freedom, he busied himself with picking up his backpack and pulling out a bag of chips. “Kou-chin,” he clarified, tearing the bag open and offering some to me.

I took a few chips, then let the awkward silence fall over us. I didn’t have much more to say, and Atsushi wasn’t saying anything either. So I decided it would be a good chance to open up my textbook to my sticky-note bookmarked page and try and get through this stuff.

“Whatcha reading?” Atsushi asked, and I jolted a little in surprise when I looked up to his face very close to mine. His purple eyes narrowed as he tried to focus on the words. “That’s biology, right?”

I nodded.

“Why are you reading a textbook at a basketball game?” he questioned, stuffing a handful of chips into his mouth and fixing me with an expectant look.

I let out a huff of a sigh, “My grades aren’t very good, so I need to study really hard.”

Atsushi chewed thoughtfully before swallowing and raising a brow (at least, I thought he raised a brow. It was covered by his hair), “Why are you doing something you aren’t good at? It seems like a waste of energy.”

It was like an arrow struck through my heart, and I was basically frozen. Why was I trying? What was the point? But I had to defend what I was doing, even if I didn’t know what the hell it was, “It’s not a waste to put a lot of effort into something you love. I really like biology, so I’ll try my best to do well in it. Isn’t that how it should be?”

He rolled his eyes and reached into his chip bag, only to come up empty handed. He frowned at his bare hand, then picked up his backpack to pull out yet another snack. “People like you are so tiring. Always trying hard. It makes me exhausted.”

I slumped in on myself, trying to focus on the words. Normally, I would defend what I was doing. Trying hard for the things you loved without the need for any reward was something I thought was important. But when even I was doubting myself, then how could I dismiss his words for nothing? So I just didn’t say anything.

That was, until, a box poked me on my cheek, “Arara, did I make the little Chihuahua sad? Sorry, Kou-chin. Have this.” Atsushi dumped the box he poked me with on my textbook. It was a box of Pocky, and when I looked up to thank him, he had a small wry smile on his face. “I really can’t stand people like you. But it’s okay. Now get up and cheer for Muro-chin.”

Putting my textbook and the Pocky on the chair next to mine, I stood up, but then turned to Atsushi, “Um, aren’t you going to cheer too?”

He scrunched his nose and turned his face away, “No, cheering is stupid. But you probably like that sort of stuff, so you do it.”

I stifled a laugh behind my hand. I was starting to understand what type of person Atsushi was.

So I did what I was told to do and loudly yelled out words of encouragement from the sidelines. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ahh, so, i've come to realize that I actually haven't written any humourous parts yet. Please take these small offerings of fluff instead, for now. Thank you for reading!
> 
> Love,  
> Me


	3. I Worry Way Too Much

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Furihata is a guardsman and Akashi is a musician... and they were going to be enslaved by an underground tyrant king.

It was Thursday, and Thursdays were my relief days. No work, and only one class in the morning, leaving the rest of my day free. Usually I just hung out by myself and went shopping (more like window-shopping, at the moment), but today I had something planned. I was going to visit Akashi.

I was actually very thankful that he had suggested a day that was free for me, because if he had mentioned a day when I was busy, I would have found it very awkward to tell him I had something else to do. As nice as Akashi was… I was a bit intimidated by him. Not because he was mean or anything, no, but he kind of just gave off that presence. That princely presence. Who wouldn’t be intimidated?

Not to mention Kuroko’s story. While Akashi didn’t seem the type to say something like that about people or friendship, I could tell that it left a lasting mark on Kuroko, and that enough made me wary. Kuroko was my friend. We went on monthly library runs together, where we both spent a whole day stacking up on books to read for fun, and then cutting down each of our piles to only five books. It was intense, but we did it. It was nice to have someone you just clicked so well with, even though we only met each other this year. And if a friend like that looked so broken up about something, then I thought it was my duty to believe them.

“Ah, Furi, did you get that last part that the prof said?” Fukuda asked once the lecture was finished, leaning sideways to take a glance at my laptop screen. I pushed it towards him and busied myself with packing up the rest of my stuff.

“Fukuda-kun! Furi-kun!” Takao yelled from a few rows down, waving his arms widely. I shrunk down, laughing awkwardly. Takao really had no qualms with drawing attention to himself.

Fukuda stood up and waved Takao over. He didn’t really have to do that though, Takao was bounding up towards us anyway. “You guys always sit so far back, it gets lonely up in the front!” he groaned, pushing his way into the aisle then resting his elbows on the table. “There’s no one to laugh at the prof’s dribble with.”

I made an ‘ick’ face, “That’s exactly why we don’t sit at the front.”

“Only _you_ want to see his spit,” Fukuda pointed out.

Takao lightly pounded his fist against the table, wearing his most serious face, “I told you at the beginning of the semester, didn’t I? I wouldn’t rest until I figured out why he drools so much, and if he’s even aware of it. It’s _science_.”

Fukuda slung his backpack over his shoulders then pushed my arm to get me to start walking out of the lecture hall, “Yeah, okay,” he rolled his eyes, “let’s just drop you off to Midorima-san. I’m sure he’ll appreciate your science more.”

I bit my lip to hold in my chuckle at Takao’s scandalized face. “What _does_ he say about your experiment?” I asked.

Once we walked out of the lecture hall and into the hallway, Takao spun around dramatically, crossed his arms, then lifted one hand to mime Midorima’s characteristic glasses adjustment action, “If you want to conduct a real experiment, you must follow the scientific method, in fact,” he lowered his voice to match Midorima’s pitch. “Then you should write a report. Staring at the professor for three hours will not get you anywhere.”

Fukuda and I hooted in laughter. “That was exactly like him!” I exclaimed breathlessly, giggles still pouring out of me.

Takao smirked, lifting his chin in pride. That was, until, Fukuda and I cut off our laughing to stare at the ominous looming figure behind poor Takao. Takao just slumped his shoulders. “He’s behind me, right?” he asked with a sigh.

We nodded. I awkwardly waved hello.

Takao sighed again, then pasted on a bright grin to face Midorima with, “Ah, Shin-chan has come to me today! What a surprise.”

“Shut up, Bakao,” Midorima replied with a scowl. “We’re going to be late for class, hurry up.”

Takao grinned up at him and started walking in the direction of their next class, but not before shooting us a victorious grin over his shoulder. He’d escaped a fate worse than his usual scolding from Midorima, and he knew it.

“I saw that, idiot!” Midorima yelled, but didn’t do anything else. He nodded towards us, then took long strides to catch up with Takao.  

“I don’t understand how he hasn’t been murdered yet,” Fukuda murmured, shaking his head with a wry smile. Looking up, he gave me a nod and patted my arm once as he turned to go.

“I’m gonna go meet up with my study group, I’ll see you later Furi,” he said. “I hope that asshole doesn’t come today.”

Fukuda was under the constant fire of some girl’s undying devotion. However, she didn’t know how to express it properly, I supposed, because it just ended up in her harassing Fukuda whenever they were in the same vicinity. Well, it wasn’t really harassing. But Fukuda felt harassed, and I was obligated to take his side as his friend from high school. “Good luck!” I waved as he went down the hall in the opposite direction from Takao and Midorima. I supposed now would be a good a time as any to go back to my room.

I had two hours to spare before noon. Enough time to prepare to meet Akashi, and also relax a little.

First, I spent a while choosing clothes that would say, ‘I have a vague understanding of what I am doing at this present moment’ (jeans, a plaid top, and a vest. I saw Himuro wear something like this, once, so I knew it was okay). Standing in front of the mirror in the closet, I determined that I looked… decent. It did make my arms look a little more buff… but even that was really pushing it.

Then, I settled down on my bed and leaned upside down to peek underneath it. Behind some socks was my library book stash that Kuroko and I had gotten for this month. I felt around for the pile and picked the top book off of it. Sitting back up, I rested against the wall and pulled my knees up to my chin. The cover, I found from examining it, showed some tall, muscle-y guy cowering behind a smaller guy holding a violin in a very offensive pose. “Together in Solidarity,” I read the title out loud absently. Ah! This was the book Kuroko had insisted I read. With a bit more interest, I sat up straighter and crossed my legs, cracking the book open and laying it on my lap.

The story began with a man who was a gifted musician and was revered by his whole village. One day, the king heard of his talent and sent a guardsman to pick up the man and escort him to the castle. However, the guardsman was a nervous wreck, as this was his first time on duty. Due to his nerves, the man and the guard accidentally veered onto the wrong path and had to travel through a neighbouring town known for its unclean and dangerous atmosphere—

What if Akashi was the musician, and I was the guardsman? I could just imagine it, accidentally putting Akashi in terrible situations just because I wasn’t able to get over my nerves. Sending him to his ultimate doom! Akashi would never forgive me. He’d be embarrassed and angry and irritated. He’d send me away, tell me I wasn’t cool enough or smart enough or just plain _anything_ enough to hang out with him. He’d shut the door in my face and leave me outside in the hallway and I would have to walk back to my room and Kuroko would look at me with pity and say, “I told you he was a bad person.”

I dropped the book onto my lap and rubbed my eyes with the heels of my palms. No, okay, reading this book was not a very good idea.

I picked up my phone, pressing the power button with my thumb. I wouldn’t have to read anymore anyway! It was 11:56 a.m.! I rushed to gather a notebook and some pens to put in my backpack, then slipped into my shoes. Taking a deep breath, I checked (then double and triple checked) whether I had my keys, cellphone, and wallet. I couldn’t be too sure.

Once I was certain I wasn’t missing anything, I left the room and started to drag my feet down the hall. I wanted to prolong the meeting as much as I could. Why? Well. Kuroko’s words. And… and…

What the hell? Was I letting that book I just read get to me? I hit my forehead with my palm, groaning quietly to myself. It had nothing to do with me. Or him. Definitely not him. He probably didn’t even _know_ how to play an instrument. Laughing to myself, I walked the rest of the way with a little skip in my step. I was overreacting like I usually did. I just need to calm down. Akashi was taking time out of his day to help me. It would do no good to be scared of messing up in front of Akashi when he was doing me such a big—

… Was that a violin?

I froze in front of his door. Yes, that was most definitely a violin. And it was very beautiful. I could feel my knees starting to go weak. He was probably just listening to a violinist play. He seemed the type to enjoy classical music. Yes. That was definitely it.

With a gulp, I rapped against the door with my knuckles and stood back, taking in a deep breath.

The playing abruptly ended and was replaced with the thumping of a pair of _very_ quick feet, approaching the door immediately. Milliseconds later, the door swung open to reveal a bright-eyed Akashi.

“Furihata,” he breathed out like a sigh, a smile climbing its way onto his face before his expression stilled, his eyes narrowed, and a smirk grew.

“A-aka—,” I began, but was cut off.

By him slamming the door shut.

I blinked. Wh-what? Why did shut the door in my face? Had I said something wrong? But I hadn’t spoken to him since yesterday, and I only managed to get half of his name out right then. Was I… was I late? I pulled out my phone. It was noon, right on the dot. Th-then, what could it have been? Had he realized that I was like that nervous guard, and that I would just make his life more difficult? That must have been it. That was it. Oh no. Oh no, I ruined a friendship that hadn’t even beg—

The door creaked open wide enough for Akashi to lean against the doorframe. He gave me a disappointed look, and I swore I felt my heart drop right there. I was completely ready to get on my knees and apologize.

“You were supposed to knock again,” he explained, opening the door a little wider.

“Wh-wha…”

A corner of his mouth tugged faintly upward, “Kuroko and yourself seem to be fans of shutting doors in my face, so I thought I’d retaliate.”

I made an odd croaking sound. What was he…?

“No one understands your jokes, Akashi,” someone commented offhandedly from inside the room. Palms sweating, I rubbed them dry against the back of my jeans and leaned to the side to see past Akashi’s shoulder. Oh, it was his roommate. The blond boy. Ha… Hayama?

Akashi was too busy glaring at Hayama to notice me snooping. “My jokes aren’t bad,” he stated, leaving no room for argument.

… Joke…? And then it clicked. Kuroko had shut the door on him that one night. And I had done the same yesterday, when I wanted to change my shirt. Of course he must have felt offended. And rather than doing something horrible, he decided to voice his discontent by doing the same to me. It was a joke.

Involuntarily, small chuckles bubbled up from my throat. When Akashi turned to me with furrowed brows and a question on his lips, those chuckles turned into full blown belly laughs. I had to use the wall next to the door for support. Akashi was trying to joke! And it was so bad, that it was funny. Oh, I was having trouble breathing.

Once I’d calmed down the slightest bit, I looked up to see Akashi shooting Hayama a smug look, arms crossed, chin high, and a winning smiling stretching his lips. When he noticed I wasn’t doubled over in laughter anymore, his smug look instantly dropped to be replaced with an amused smile.

“You got my joke?” he asked, opening his door wider and ushering me inside.

I took a deep breath then stood up straight. Expelling the last of my giggles, I nodded, “Yeah. I got it. Took me a minute though.” I stepped into the room and noticed Hayama sitting in a corner at his desk, headphones around his neck.

“Akashi probably wants to tell you to take all the time you want,” Hayama grinned, propelling his chair back from his desk with his foot. “As long as you laugh at his jokes, he’ll be happy with you.”

“Shut up,” Akashi commanded, then sat down on the floor next to his bed, patting the space next to him. “I thought you had hockey practice right now?”

I knelt down and then lowered myself onto my legs. I took my bag off and set it on my lap. And then I saw the violin on the desk. I almost started shaking right there and then… because if the violin was Hayama’s, then it would have been on his desk. But it was what I presumed to be on Akashi’s desk. And that meant that Akashi was the violin player. So the story really was a prophecy. We were both going to probably become underground slaves to a ruthless king because of me.

Hayama’s chair hit the desk pushed against the wall opposite to his as his face blanched. “Oh shit, no, Coach is going to kill me if I’m late again.”

The banging noise served as a distraction from the violin, pulling me abruptly out of my thoughts and back to where Akashi was smugly regarding Hayama as he gathered his things remarkably fast from the pile of sports equipment sitting next to his closet. I balled my fists as I decided not to think about the violin anymore while I was with Akashi.

Before he left, Hayama turned to me with a grin. “Ah, by the way, I’m Hayama Koutarou! And you’re Furihata, right? It’s nice meeting you! Bye! Bye Akashi!”

“Goodbye,” Akashi said. I waved. Once the door clicked shut, Akashi’s body relaxed almost immediately. “Hayama is great, but he’s very energetic. It makes me tired sometimes,” he said to me with a smile.

I politely smiled back with a nod. I didn’t want to open my mouth and accidentally say something about the prophecy.

Taking the hint, Akashi scooted back to create some space between us, then reached behind him to reveal a thin notebook. He set it onto the floor between us.

The cover of the notebook was a simple black. I squinted at it, then at Akashi. “What’s that?”

“It’s a study guide. I’ve compiled all the methods that I use into this book,” he answered, opening the cover and flipping past pages of elegant but slightly messy handwriting in black ink.

I stuck my hand out to grab a page before he could flip past it. Scanning over the words, I realized that it was ridiculously detailed, and touching upon sub-topics that I hadn’t even considered.

“Is… is this yours?” I asked. This must have taken years to put together.

He shook his head and slid the book towards me. “It’s yours. I made it for you last night.”

“What!” I cried, grabbing the book and jumping from page to page. This was long. This was detailed. “H-how! When did you sleep? When did you find the time?”

Akashi shrugged, “It didn’t take that long. I wasn’t very tired. When I felt tired, I went to bed. Don’t worry about it.”

I shut the notebook and clutched it against my chest, staring at Akashi in wonderment. He did this all for me? No matter what he said, I knew it must have taken a while to both compile then write out everything into the book. And so neatly too. I was in awe. “Thank you, Akashi-san…” I didn’t know what else to possibly say.

He shifted uncomfortably, not meeting my eyes, “Like I said, don’t worry about it. It was nothing. And you don’t have to use ‘san’ with me.” He finally met my eyes again, but his eyes lacked the intensity they usually seemed to hold, “I believe we’re the same age.”

“I’m turning twenty-three in November,” I offered, leaving room for him to add on to it.

“I’ll be twenty-three in December,” he replied, smiling. “So, we’re the same age. Don’t use ‘san’.”

But just saying ‘Akashi’ would seem so disrespectful towards him. “W-well…” I began timidly, “how about Akashi-kun?”

He exhaled, but nodded good-naturedly, “For now, that’s okay.”

“Okay,” I agreed happily, looking at my newly acquired notebook again. Going to the first page, I realized that this sort of stuff seemed quite difficult to implement. “Uh, Akashi-sa—I mean, kun--, how do you want me to do what you’ve written? It looks hard.”

He took it from me, smoothed out the first page, and began to explain the methods he used and how he used them. He told me about what he found difficult and what he found simpler, but gave me room to choose which methods suited me best.

Unintentionally, my eyelids started to feel heavier and heavier by the second, and so I rested my head against his bed, letting my eyes flutter shut, just listening to his voice. I hoped he wouldn’t notice me relaxing a little. I was still listening to what he was saying, after all. He had a nice voice. It was very smooth. It wasn’t necessarily too deep, but it was strong and powerful, even when he was talking to me at normal volume. It commanded attention, and I was more than willing to give it. Akashi had done such a nice thing for me, it was the least I could do for him. Give him attention. Yeah, I could do that.

“…--hata…” I heard him say softly. “Furihata,” he repeated, this time much more loud and clear.

I jerked up, blinking slowly, “Y… yes, Akashi-san?”

“kun,” he corrected.

I rubbed my eyes, “Akashi-kun. Yes?”

“You fell asleep,” he said.

My eyes flew open as I gasped, “I did? I am so, so sorry, Akashi-kun! It was an accident. You weren’t boring at all, I promise, it was very interesting. Your voice was very calming, so I started to feel drowsy. N-not that this is your fault, of course. It’s mine. It’s really impolite of me to fall asleep after you went out of your way to do this. I’m so sorry. I’ll make it up to you. I’ll—“

Akashi put a hand up to silence me, but was biting back laughter, “It’s okay, Furihata. I didn’t realize that I’d been talking for over two hours.”

“Two hours?” I questioned, and glanced at my phone. It was true.

“Let’s end this for today,” Akashi suggested, standing up to stretch. “You’ve had lunch already, yes?”

Come to think of it… I hadn’t. I’d been so excited that I forgot to eat lunch. I sheepishly shook my head.

He raised a brow, “It’s late, though. You really should eat on time.”

I laughed apologetically, “Aha… yeah… I just forgot today.”

“Never mind then. Let’s go eat lunch,” he was already stuffing his keys, wallet, and phone into his pockets.

I stood up slowly, “O-okay. I really am sorry, Akashi-kun.”

Shaking his head, he fixed me with a level look, “Don’t worry. There’s nothing to apologize for. What do you want to eat?”

Shrugging, I stood up and put my bag on. “Anything is good,” I answered.

Akashi hummed thoughtfully while opening the door and standing by, waiting for me to leave. I put my shoes on and walked into the hallway, waiting for Akashi as he locked the door. When he turned around, he handed me the black notebook. I put it into my bag.

“Do you like Western food? There’s a place up the street that has good Western food.”

I nodded, “Sure, why not?”

So we walked for ten minutes to get to the nice place with Western food. The walk was… quiet. I wasn’t a complete chatterbox around people I didn’t know, and it seemed Akashi wasn’t one to blabber nonstop either. But, Akashi did make an effort to ask me questions about myself, such as things I liked, things I didn’t like, and I did my best to ask him those questions in return. But more often than not, there were large pockets of silence. Anytime I snuck a glance at him, he seemed pretty content, so I tried to tell myself not to fret too much about the silence. It was okay. If he didn’t mind, then neither should I. People didn’t always have to talk.

 Against my best efforts, I was extremely nervous by the time we got to the restaurant. If I couldn’t handle ten minutes with him when he wasn’t lecturing me, then how would I last a meal with him?

At least the restaurant wasn’t the fancy type. It looked like a good place to go when you had a hangover.

Akashi and I waited quietly to be seated, and then followed the waitress as she led us to a table by a window. She dropped a menu in front of each of us, then said she’d be back in a few minutes.

I busied myself with looking through the menu. Hamburgers… fries… and pizza were the cheapest things on the menu. Hm. I did like fries… and pizza was good too. How big would the pizza be? I didn’t think Akashi would want to share.  But I was very hungry. I’d get a hamburger, then. I put my menu down once I’d finalized my choice, only to notice that Akashi was resting his chin in his palm and watching me.

“Ah… do you know what you’re getting?” I asked hesitantly, fiddling with the corners of the laminated menu.

He nodded, “Yes. I’ll be getting the pasta.”

“Ah…” I trailed off.

It remained quiet until the waitress came to take our orders. Once she was gone with our menus, Akashi flattened his palms against the table and leaned towards me.

“Furihata, am I making you uncomfortable?” he asked, not looking away from my eyes.

I shook my head rapidly, “No, not at all!”

“You’re sweating,” he pointed out. I checked my shirt for sweat, but found nothing. “No, your forehead. Your face. It’s sweating.”

The face in question burst into flames, and I hid it behind my hands, shrinking into myself. Oh, that was so embarrassing. “I-I’m not uncomfortable… I’m just… um…”

“Nervous?” he filled in.

I peeked at him from between my fingers in surprise, “Y-yes! How’d you know?”

He smiled, leaning back in his chair and crossing his arms across his chest, “It’s not very hard to read you.”

“O-oh…”

Akashi chuckled. “It’s your stuttering. If you’re not uncomfortable, then you must be nervous.”

“O-oh! You’re right,” I couldn’t help but chuckle myself. “Someone I met yesterday told me that I was like a Chihuahua. Maybe because they always seem like they’re nervous too.”

He grinned softly, “I can see that.”

When a lull in our conversation appeared, I mustered up all my courage and asked him a question. “You said you were a business major, right?”

“That is correct,” he nodded.

“That’s cool. You… did you come to this school because you liked the program here? For business?”

Akashi thought for a moment, before raising a shoulder noncommittally. “The program here is useful, yes.”

“I see…” I moved my hands to my lap, playing with my fingers. “Do you know, um, what you wanna do after graduation?”

He very visibly hesitated before opening his mouth, but then sighed in resignation. “I’ll be taking over my father’s company after graduation,” he explained.

My eyes widened, “Whoa! Is it a big company?”

He shrugged again, “I suppose.”

I broke out into a grin, completely curious about Akashi’s life after graduation. He had everything set! It was amazing. “So you’re going to be a… a CEO! Won’t that be hard?”

“I’ve… been preparing for it for a very long time.”

So if Akashi was going to be a CEO soon, it probably meant that he was rich. But… if he was… “So, why did you decide to come to this university, then? There are lots of better ones in Tokyo.”

Akashi exhaled and gave me a wry smile, “I came here because it was normal. There aren’t many wealthy children of business owners here. I liked that.”

I nodded. That made sense. “It must get stressful, being the son of a CEO, huh? But I think you’re very well suited for the job.”

He furrowed his brows and pursed his lips in confusion, “Am I? How so?”

I looked to the ceiling as I thought, and counted off every trait that came to me on my fingers, “Well, you’re smart, for one. You pay good attention to detail. You’re like a prince. You’re good at getting attention. You’re organized. And… you’re kind. I think those are good things for a CEO to be.”

To my astonishment, Akashi smothered a laugh behind his hand. “I really… appreciate that, Furihata. But I fail to see myself as a prince, or how that could be helpful with being a CEO.”

I froze. “A-ah… did I say that part out loud?”

He nodded, eyes crinkling as he tried not to laugh. His red eyes practically glittered.

Before I could say anything else to embarrass myself, the food was placed in front of us, and I sighed in relief. I didn’t have to talk anymore.

The rest of the time was spent with us chatting surprisingly amicably in between bites of food. And when we got up to go, Akashi even offered to pay for me, but I shook my head resolutely. I couldn’t let him pay for me. I didn’t want to take advantage of his kindness or his money.

Walking back to our rooms was much easier. Akashi and I actually conversed. While the conversation topic wasn’t the most stimulating (the pros and cons of seaweed. Akashi was very heavily on the cons side), it was a conversation that didn’t allow for any beats of silence.

When we stepped out of the elevator and had to turn separate ways, I didn’t worry about making a fool of myself even once when I widely grinned at Akashi. “Thanks again, Akashi-kun. I’ll be sure to let you know if those tips from today worked out.”

He nodded, opened his mouth to say something, but then closed it. I waited patiently as he shut his eyes and let some tension out of his shoulders. After a quick second, he opened his eyes and reached into his pocket, extending what was in his hand towards me.

Oh, a phone.

“Do… rather, would you be interested in exchanging numbers so that we may talk through… text messaging…?” he awkwardly asked.

I tried not to laugh, “That was a very formal way of asking for my number.” I leaned forward, mimicking his expression from the restaurant, “Akashi-kun, am I making you uncomfortable?”

It worked. Any tension that remained in his shoulders was expelled immediately with his burst of laughter, “Are you copying me, Furihata?”

Something pinged in my heart, but I shook off the feeling. “It _is_ the highest form of flattery.”

He rolled his eyes, still laughing, and powered open his phone, “Okay, then please give me your number. I’ll text you so you can have mine.”

I rattled off my number, and then waited for my phone to vibrate. When it did, it displayed a text from Unknown. “Got it,” I informed him. “Well… I’ll be going now. Bye, Akashi-kun!”

“Goodbye, Furihata,” he replied, then turned down the hall to leave.

I went back to my room. Only after I changed into my pajamas (because I refused to leave the room anymore) and sat down on my bed with my laptop did I remember to check the message he sent.

 **Unknown** [3:34 PM]

Hello Furihata. (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧

Did he just…

I laughed silently to myself and saved his number under **Akashi-kun** (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello!
> 
> Thank you so much for reading! I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I had fun writing the fluff. I'd love feedback too, so please don't hesitate to give me some!
> 
> Love,  
> Me


	4. I Meet People

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Furihata makes a new friend, and is possibly unfriended by another.

**Akashi-kun** (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧[5:54 PM]: I am craving tofu soup again, Furihata.

 **Me** [6:03 PM]: i told you, i dont know how to make it. im sorry :(

 **Akashi-kun** (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧[6:11 PM]: Disappointing. Very well. I will have to simply look at pictures of tofu soup to satisfy my craving.

 **Me** [6:15 PM]: Why dont you make it yourself?

 **Akashi-kun** (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧[6:16 PM]: I’m very busy, unfortunately. As well, the pictures are not helping. Perhaps you can learn how to make it?

 

-x-x-x-

 

 **Me** [9:47 AM]: btw, i was wodering, yknow that part where you wrote something about studying for like 25 minutes and then taking a break for 5, and then doing 25 again?? what if you get distracted during your break and dont wanna study anymore so you do things for longer than 5 minutes???

 **Me** [9:47 AM]: *wondering

 **Akashi-kun** (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧[9:55 AM]: Give yourself a reward to look forward to after you finish each 25 minute interval.

 **Me** [10:45 AM]: ok but what if you accidentally ate all of your rewards in one go

 **Akashi-kun** (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧[10:48 AM]: … Furihata

 **Me** [10:50 AM]: i am hopeleeeessssssssss

 

-x-x-x-

 

 **Me** [8:30 PM]: Hey Akashi-kun i hope your day went well!!!

 

-x-x-x-

 

 **Me** [12:32 PM]: akashi-kun studying is booooring

 

-x-x-x-

 

 **Me** [1:13 AM]: hi, uhhhh i just wanted to know if you were doing well?? it’s been a while since we talked!!!

 

-x-x-x-

 

I walked out of the midterm for my Human Brain and Behaviour class, unsure what to feel. I’d only had two weeks to implement Akashi’s study methods, and while they did help, I had a large amount of hiccups on the way. A lot of his methods relied on having willpower and self-discipline. I had… neither, you could say.

Speaking of Akashi… hmm. I found the nearest bench in the quad and sat down, enjoying the light breeze nipping gently at my ears. It wasn’t completely chilly yet, but it was getting there. It was nice weather for sweaters. Rummaging through my bag, I pulled out my phone and powered it back on. We had to turn it off and stash it away in our bags during exams, so as to avoid the possibility of cheating. Once it was on, I immediately pressed on the messaging application.

No new messages. From Akashi, specifically. I did have one from my older brother, however. I regretted opening it. Attached was a picture of an ugly dog mask. It had an enlarged snout, extremely droopy eyes, and melty features, complete with a large amount of wrinkles.

 **The Nightmare** [11:28 AM]: loooool kou i passed by this art studio on the way to work and i found ur picture looooool

 **Me** [1:03 PM]: dont be an asshole aniki it’s distasteful

And with that, I shoved my phone back into my pocket. I didn’t want to think about my brother. Thinking about him would lead to thinking about my family and thinking about my family would lead to me trying to figure out how to tell them I was failing university. They would be so disappointed. I pushed that thought to the very back of my mind and stood up, heading for the coffee shop next to campus.

In all honesty, I was slightly disappointed that I had no texts from Akashi. Not that I expected him to have his phone attached to his hand at all hours of the day, of course. I knew he was busy. Much busier than me. But ever since we exchanged numbers, we had been texting all the time. So when he stopped replying to my messages since about three days ago, it was a little jarring. I didn’t want to think that maybe I’d bothered him to the point where he was point blank ignoring me, but it was hard to keep that train of thought out of my head.

Perhaps he was hurt? I stopped in my tracks, causing some girl to bump into my back. She muttered something angrily under her breath but steered around me. I paid her no mind. I hadn’t even considered the possibility of Akashi being hurt. But wouldn’t his roommate have taken care of him, then? Even if he was sick, Hayama seemed nice enough to make sure Akashi didn’t die.

I resumed walking, but held on to this idea. While it was true that Hayama would make sure Akashi wasn’t dying, Hayama was busy himself. He seemed to be a part of… many, many sports clubs. What if Akashi wanted water, but Hayama was at practice? And Akashi had no strength to go and get it? He could be dying of dehydration!

I nearly turned around and walked straight to the dorms. But I clenched my fist and continued towards the coffee shop. I was overthinking this. And of course Akashi would be able to handle himself. He has most likely lived in the dorms since first year. This couldn’t be the first time that he could have gotten sick. What was I thinking, wanting to prance into his dorm and nurse him back to health? I wasn’t in a shoujo manga, and besides, it would probably make Akashi feel uncomfortable. I knew some guys were uncomfortable with too much closeness among people of the same gender. I was bisexual, so it really didn’t matter to me, but I didn’t know Akashi that well. What if it made him feel awkward, me being too near him? Let alone him liking guys at all. I still didn’t know that. And I probably wouldn’t know that for a while. How did one even go about asking someone whether they liked your gender without it coming off like one was coming onto them?

Sighing in aggravation, I pulled open the coffee shop’s door. Bells chimed above me, and I was greeted with the low conversational hum of people crowding nearly all the seats and the welcoming aroma of coffee.

“Ah, Furi!” Kawahara waved from behind the counter. “Coffee?”

Kawahara, another high school friend of mine, worked at the coffee shop to get himself through university. While both his parents were alive, and he also had an older sister, Kawahara was trying to not rely on their income. Something that had to do with a family debt. I couldn’t remember clearly, but I did recall him once telling Fukuda and I that his family had strong ties to the Yakuza in that area. It’s always made me scared to piss him off, but it was hard to do that. Kawahara was a person who thrived off of the good humour and happiness of others. It made it hard to picture him interacting with anyone from the Yakuza.

“Yeah, coffee,” I replied, taking a seat on one of the bar stools and resting my elbows on the counter as I watched Kawahara go through the familiar coffee making motions.

“Hey, Furihata-kun.”

My heart nearly jumped out of my chest. I flailed a bit to get my balance back, and glanced to my right to see Kuroko sitting on the bar stool right next to mine.

“K-Kuroko! When did you get here!” I asked, but I knew it was a stupid question. I’d get the same reply as always.

Kuroko obviously knew that too, but he was practiced in giving the same response every time that question was asked. “I was here the whole time,” he said simply. “I’m keeping Kawahara-kun company while I wait to meet up with Ogiwara-kun.”

Kuroko and Kawahara had apparently known each other since their first year of university, which always weird to me, but not surprising. Unfortunately, Kuroko wasn’t very noticeable. It made me sad to think that I could have possibly ignored him in the past when I went to meet up with Kawahara.

“Ohh, are the two of you going to play basketball?” I asked.

He shook his head. “We’re just going to study together.” Ogiwara was Kuroko’s own friend from elementary school, and they were very close.

With a slight thump, a medium mocha in a to-go cup was placed down in front of me. I pulled out my wallet and put the cash on the table for Kawahara to take. “How was your exam?” he asked as he pressed buttons on the register. It pinged, and the drawer slid open.

I shrugged, slumping over the smooth surface of the tabletop, careful to avoid smashing my elbow against the cup. “I dunno man, it was one of those exams where you come out more confused than when you came in.”

Kawahara winced. Kuroko furrowed his brows and crinkled his nose in what I assumed to be a cringe. Before Kawahara could say any words of encouragement, the bell by the door chimed once more as people came in. It was two people—a tall blonde with a hoop in his ear and expensive looking clothes, and a shorter dark haired guy looking like he was ready for murder. And the murderous intent was focussed on the blond guy.

“Hello! Welcome to The Zone. How may I help you?” Kawahara automatically chirped, and it caught the attention of the blond guy, who smiled prettily.

“What would you like, Senpai? I’ll buy it,” he offered, but the “senpai” nudged the blond boy out of the way and approached the register himself. The blond boy pouted.

“I’ll have a large coffee. Black. To go,” he ordered, already counting out the appropriate amount of money needed.

“Se-en-paaii—ah! Is that Kurokocchi?” the boy’s attention was diverted, and Kuroko sighed heavily.

“Hello, Kise-kun,” he turned the barstool slightly so that he was facing the blond boy—Kise.

The boy grinned widely and lightly punched Kuroko’s shoulder, “Kurokocchi, it’s been a while. Let’s talk.”

“I’m already having a conversation,” Kuroko gestured towards me, who was no longer slumped over the table, but rather leaning against it instead and feeling the small tingling of anxiety starting, as it always started when I was made to meet someone new.

I waved awkwardly. “H-hi…”

Kise nodded, but not with the obvious warmth he was showing Kuroko. “Hello, Kurokocchi’s friend. I’m Kise Ryouta. Have you heard of me?” he lifted his chin confidently.

I felt a little bad when I hesitantly told him no. His expression instantly fell, and he gripped Kuroko’s arm, pulling it while he whined. “Why hasn’t Kurokocchi told his friends about me-e-e-e?”

Kuroko plucked his hand off of his arm. “I saw no reason to. We don’t even talk that much.”

He rolled his eyes, but was not deterred. He flashed me a smile and crossed his arms over his chest. “I’m Kise Ryouta, part-time, part-time student, part-time basketball player, and Kuroko-cchi's full-time best friend.”

The guy who came in with Kise snorted behind me. I turned to look at him. He was holding his coffee and rolling his eyes. “Wow, you didn’t do that stupid introduction routine this time.”

“Hey! It’s not stupid!” Kise defended.

Kuroko tittered behind his hand. “You still do that?”

Kise looked torn between defending his “routine” and getting Kuroko to stop laughing. “N-no! I stopped! God, you guys are the worst. Kawahara! Can I please have a Caramel Latte to go? I need sugar to be able to deal with all this negativity.”

“I think you’re cool, Kise,” Kawahara said as he turned to make the coffee, and Kise’s eyes went watery. I didn’t think he noticed the slight teasing tone Kawahara used.

“This is why you’re my favourite barista, Kawahara. I’m gonna call you Kawaharacchi now. You’ve earned my respect,” he announced, then turned a fierce eye towards his dark haired friend. “ _This_ is how you’re supposed to be towards your friends, Senpai! _This_! Kawaharacchi is such a good friend!”

“You’re not my friend,” the dark haired guy drawled, taking a drawn out sip of his coffee. He made a face, but his shoulders lost some tension. Kise lost interest in his friend and went back to interrogating Kuroko about his life.

Not knowing what to do with myself, since Kawahara was busy tending to more customers and making Kise’s drink, I took a sip of my own mocha and sighed.

The dark haired guy snickered next to me. “Two of the six generation of idiots.”

Kise and Kuroko instantly turned their heads to glare at the dark haired guy. He put up an unconcerned hand in apology. I glanced between them, and waited until they were both talking to each other again before I cleared my throat.

“U-um… you can tell me if this is too intrusive, but I was wondering… what you meant by the ‘generation of idiots’ thing? Why did they look so mad?”

The guy raised a brow in surprise. “You mean you’re friends with that guy and don’t know what that means?” he nodded towards Kuroko.

I shrugged shyly.

He sighed through his nose, but leaned against the counter. “Two years ago, these two, plus four other guys with equally as colourful hair, and apparently a girl with coloured hair as well, met and were all part of this group called the Generation of Miracles,” he snorted sarcastically. “They hate the name, so don’t say it in front of them. They were friends and stuff, and they all joined the basketball club. The girl was the manager. Each one had a crazy ability when it came to basketball, which is why they were called miracles in the first place. They basically dominated every other school we played, so it was all good. But then there was something like incompatibility issues and a falling out happened, so they all went their separate ways in their second year. They’re not part of the basketball club anymore. At least not the varsity one.”

I thought about this. Were these the friends Kuroko had mentioned when he was telling his story? I glanced at Kise through the side of my eye. Hmm. He didn’t look like the type to abandon friends. And he seemed completely friendly with Kuroko.

Before I could say anything, the guy continued. “I only know this because I was a second year on the basketball team when they came as first years. Assholes made me sit on the bench. They’re crazy,” he said. He took a sip of his coffee. “I’m Kasamatsu Yukio, by the way.”

I perked up instantly. “Oh! I’m Furihata Kouki. Thanks for telling me.”

He shook his head. “No worries. That incompatibility stuff was bullshit, seriously, each one of them is weird as fuck. They have more similarities than differences. If you ever wanna rant about one of them to someone with firsthand experience, feel free to find me. I’m always on campus.”

Before I could thank him, Kise turned his attentions back to Kasamatsu. “Hey, you wanna go now, Senpai? That paper won’t write itself.”

Kasamatsu rolled his eyes again, but still pushed himself off of the side of the counter and started heading for the door. I heard him mutter, “I hope you fail,” under his breath as he passed me, and had to suppress a laugh. Kise apparently heard that too, because with a hasty goodbye to Kuroko, Kawahara, and myself, he caught up with Kasamatsu and loudly told him off for “wishing ill towards an innocent student.”

Then Ogiwara walked into the coffee shop and waved once towards Kuroko, then at me. I waved back as Kuroko hopped off his seat. “I’ll be going now. Bye, Kawahara-kun, Furihata-kun.”

I finished off of my drink and waited for a lull in customers before I narrowed my eyes at Kawahara. “You’ve been sleeping alright? And eating? You’re not just living off chips and coffee again are you? Because I’ll tell Fukuda to whoop your ass back into shape, just like last time.”

Kawahara shook his head earnestly, laughing loudly. “No, of course not. Fukuda has left scars. I can’t even put a bag of chips next to coffee anymore. I get war flashbacks.” He smiled in a manner that could only be described as sweet. “Thanks for worrying though.”

I waved him off. “We gotta make sure you’re still alive, after all. Otherwise your sister will kill us.”

He grimaced, but didn’t try to counter that. It was true.

“Oh, speaking of making sure people are alive, I gotta go,” I suddenly remembered Akashi and him possibly lying on his bed calling out for water. “My friend is probably sick so I’m gonna make sure he’s not dead.”

Kawahara rested against the counter, chin in his palm. “Okay, Furihata Sensei. Go make your check-up rounds. See ya.”

I threw up my middle finger as he laughed belly laughed at his own joke, but couldn’t help smiling. The smile didn’t leave the whole way back to the dorms.

When I got to my floor, I automatically turned down towards Akashi’s end of the hallway. I didn’t hesitate in front of the door anymore either. Instead, I knocked on it twice with as much confidence as I could muster.

The door didn’t open until maybe a minute later. It revealed Akashi, but this Akashi wasn’t smiling like he usually did. No, rather his lips were pulled tight into a flat line, his face rivalling Kuroko’s level of emotionless, and his eyes had a different light to them. A more commanding light. Speaking of his eyes… one of them was golden.

He did not speak. Instead, he stared at me.

“Hey, Akashi-kun!” I ignored his demeanour, flashing him a toothy smile. “You haven’t been replying to my texts lately, so I thought you might be sick,” I laughed in embarrassment, rubbing the back of my neck. “It sounds a bit self-centred, you not replying only if you’re sick. I know you’re busy, that’s probably why. But I just wanted to check, just in case.”

Akashi let out a long exhale and opened the door wider so as not to cover his whole body, “Yes, I’m busy.” He then moved to shut the door.

Hastily, I stepped forward and put a hand of the door to keep him from closing it completely. “I-I’m sorry, but a-are you sure you’re okay? You seem a little… tense.”

The door stopped where it was, but didn’t open wider. “I’m fine. Any other _pressing_ questions?” He seemed impatient, and it was making me nervous, but I had to ask.

“I… Is there something wrong with your eye? It’s like… golden.”

“It’s hardly as if red was a normal colour in itself,” he shot back, eyes narrowing. “Besides, it’s none of your business. I’m busy. Goodbye.”

And then the door shut.

For a moment, I wait for Akashi to open the door with a disappointed pout on his lips, saying that I was supposed to knock, and that this was a _joke_. Because it truly felt like one.

But no. Akashi did not open the door, even after five whole minutes. So I was left confused and dejected. I couldn’t remember doing anything particularly offensive towards Akashi to have him act so coldly with me. Maybe he realized that I was beneath him entirely, and wanted to distance himself from me? While entirely self-deprecating and probably wildly incorrect, that thought swam at the forefront of my mind. Had I caused that reaction in any way? Akashi wasn’t one to act rashly. At least, from what I knew of him.

Then again, I knew very little of him. If we were to go off of Kuroko’s and Kasamatsu’s stories, then Akashi must have been part of the Generation of Miracles. So it meant that he has had some drama in his life which probably left a lasting emotional mark. A mark I wasn’t familiar with, because it wasn’t shared with me.

I began the walk back to my room, dragging my feet against the carpet. Akashi had no reason to share these things with me. I barely knew him. And I had only met Kuroko this year. We’ve known each other only two months. He also had no reason to share these things with me.

These thoughts, I realized as I unlocked my door, shucked off my shoes, and collapsed onto my bed, were not making me any less sad.

I’d never imagined Akashi being cold. Maybe Kuroko had been right. I should probably be careful around him, if he has such sides to him. I didn’t want to stop being his friend though.

But it seemed like he wanted to stop being mine.

Cocooning myself in my blanket, I buried my face in my pillow and went to sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello!  
> As usual, thank you so very much for reading, I appreciate it so much! What do you think of the chapter? Please let me know! 
> 
> Ahh, by the way, if you wanna follow me on Tumblr, I'm here: http://gllowingllanterns.tumblr.com/ The blog is still under works, so please excuse the simplicity of the theme!  
> I also write KNB Imagine scenarios here: http://imagining-with-knb.tumblr.com/ . Please follow that if you like that sort of thing LOL. 
> 
> Thank you again for reading!
> 
> Love,  
> Me


	5. I'm Nurse Furi

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Furihata learns that Akashi is ill and rushes to nurse him back to health, with many hiccups (some very violent) along the way.

The next day, after all my classes were done, I went back to huddling up in my blankets and watching sad movies featuring loyal dogs. After the fifth rerunning of the movie in which the dog died in the owner’s arms after rescuing the owner from an undesirable fate, Kuroko snapped. He turned down the photo of his dog Nigou Tetsuya that sat on his desk in a frame and whipped a pillow at my face. Surprisingly, it hurt, especially when my head smacked against the wall.

“What the fuck, Kuroko,” I groaned, cradling my head in my hands. Shit, that hurt.

“Stop playing that movie. Have some respect. Tell me what’s wrong,” he ordered, eyes lit with anger. He didn’t seem to be in a state to listen to my problems.

But since he looked so scary, I sighed and shut my laptop. “Akashi-kun doesn’t wanna be my friend anymore,” I said quietly, embarrassed. I sounded like a two year old.

Kuroko’s eyes instantly lost their fire and went back to carrying their usual level of dispassion. “And how do you know this?”

“He told me to go away!” I cried, throwing my hands up. “I went to check on him ‘cause he hadn’t replied to my texts in a while so I was wondering whether he was sick or something. But then I go there and he seems different and one of his eyes are golden, and he tells me to go away! It was kind of mean!”

“One of his eyes are golden?” Kuroko asked for clarification. He spun his chair to face me. I nodded. Kuroko sighed. “It’s not your fault.”

“It’s not? Then why was he acting so shitty?” I questioned, crossing my arms and trying to stop a pout from forming.

The beginnings of a smirk hinted at Kuroko’s mouth, but he never let a full one develop. I glared at him in suspicion.

“Akashi-kun has jaundice.”

My glare fell immediately. “Wh-what!”

“He has jaundice. That’s why his one eye is yellow. It’s a weird condition. It has happened before. Maybe he’s embarrassed.”

“B-but, don’t you usually have jaundice in the whites of your eyes? Or… or like the skin? It was in his iris. And it was _golden_.”

Kuroko paused, considering this. But then he shook his head. “Akashi-kun’s condition is unique. That’s why it keeps on coming back.”

I threw the covers off of me and stood up to rush to the entrance of the room, shoving my feet into a pair of slippers and opening the door. “No wonder! That makes so much sense, thank you Kuroko! I need to go tell him that it’s okay. Maybe he needs to go to the doctor. I’ll talk to him. Thank you!”

“Maybe you should change your clo—”, Kuroko began, but I shut the door before he could finish his sentence. Clothes were of no importance when a friend was ill! Sweatpants and a t-shirt were sufficient enough!

I practically ran down the hallway, narrowly missing colliding into a guy carrying a large diorama of a molecule or something. Frantically, I knocked on his door then stepped back, wringing my hands in anticipation.

It took a few minutes, like last time, but eventually the door opened to reveal Akashi, one of his eyes still yellow, the impassive expression still on his face, the weird look in his eyes still present. “You again,” he said simply.

“Akashi-kun!” I began, putting my hand on the door to make sure he didn’t shut it. “I want to help you. You don’t have to be embarrassed okay? You’re a survivor!”

This finally caused some emotion on his face to appear. Confusion. He took a step back, and I took that as an invite inside, even if it wasn’t intentional. I pushed the door open and stepped into the room, kicking my slippers off. Akashi stood by the door, staring at me.

“What are you talking about?” he questioned, raising a brow.

I shook my head as I surveyed the room. Judging by the mess of papers and open books, he had been working at his desk. While he was ill. He seemed like the workaholic type of person. I lunged forward to grab his arm, then dragged him to his bed. To my surprise, he didn’t resist, and let himself be dragged. With a quick glance at his face, it was obviously because the shock of me barging into his room had rendered him defenseless. I took advantage of this, shoving him onto the bed and pulling the covers up and over him. I leaned over him to tuck Akashi in, nice and tight so that he couldn’t move.  

“What the hell is going on?” Akashi finally said as I caught my breath. He moved to get up, and I quickly pressed down on his shoulders to put him back in a horizontal position. To my surprise, a few signs of bewildered amusement played across his face. “My brother would love this.”

“Brother?”

“My older brother,” Akashi said.

I pulled back and kneeled next to his bed. Thankfully Akashi didn’t try to sit up again. “I’ve never met your brother.”

Akashi didn’t reply, but a mocking smile was present on his face and I didn’t know why. Instead, I switched gears and began to berate him. “Akashi-kun, you cannot be embarrassed about being sick. I know we haven’t known each other a long while, but you didn’t have to hide it from me! I could help you. Hayama-san is always busy with clubs. What if something bad had happened while he was gone?”

“I’m not sick,” he replied sternly.

I sighed. He would be a fussy patient. “Yes you are. Kuroko said you have jaundice and that you were embarrassed by this. I’ll help you. I’ll even learn to make tofu soup for you, just like you wanted.”

Akashi opened his mouth, surveyed my face (which I tried to make as earnest as possible), then nodded a quick nod. “Make me tofu soup and then I’ll tell you everything.”

I couldn’t help but let a grin grow on my face. “Yes! Okay. Thank you. Stay in bed, okay? Don’t move. I’ll get some tofu soup.”

When I got back to my feet, Akashi’s hand clamped down on my wrist. “Don’t buy it. You have to make it. Otherwise I’m not talking.”

It would be hard, but I nodded in determination and left the room, marching straight to the kitchen. I stood in the middle of the small room, staring at the stove. How would I do this?

Half an hour later, I was still in this position. I should have probably gotten my phone to Google the recipe. I began to head back to my room when I heard voices slowly approaching the kitchen. I paused by the door to listen.

 “Listen _fucker_ , don’t make fun of people’s eyebrows, okay? It’s rude. Don’t you have manners?”

“I don’t know what ‘ _fucker’_ means, Shitty Eyebrows, swear at me in Japanese or don’t swear at all. Don’t _you_ have manners?”

“Atsushi, I taught you what ‘ _fucker’_ meant. Remember? You said it to me when I hid your candy. Don’t act stupid.”

“HAH!”

“Don’t be childish, Taiga.”

“Yeah, _Taiga_ , don’t be childish.”

“Listen here, you oversized grape, don’t make fun of—Oh, Furi. What are you doing?”

I jerked in surprise at being noticed. “Hey Kagami, Himuro, and Atsushi-san.”

Kagami pulled a face. “ _Atsushi_ -san? When did you get on first name basis with this idiot?”

I furrowed my brows as Atsushi approached me, then slung an arm over my shoulder. “Hey, Kou-chin.”

“ _Kou-chin_?” Kagami yelled in outrage.

Himuro rolled his eyes and shoved Kagami into the kitchen. “You’re going to disturb people.”

“Atsushi-san, isn’t Atsushi your family name?”

Atsushi’s long purple hair swished as he shook his head. “It’s Mura-a-a-saki-ba-a-a-ra.” he drew out the syllables.

I blinked in surprise, then remembered that Himuro was raised in America. Of course he’d supply me his given name. “I-I’m Furihata.”

“I like Kou-chin better.”

“O-oh, okay…” I laughed nervously. “Th-then I’ll, um, continue calling you Atsushi-san? If it’s okay?”

Atsushi nodded, lifting a large hand to ruffle my hair.

Kagami stomped over and flung his hand off of me. “Hey, don’t touch Furi!” he grabbed my shoulders and pulled me back against him. “You don’t even know him!”

Atsushi’s eyes narrowed. “Yeah I do, Shitty Eyebrows. We’re _friends_.”

“Don’t make fun of my—” Kagami was cut off with Himuro slamming a cabinet door.

We all turned to look at him. His eyes were dark, but his expression remained pleasant. “Shut up.”

Kagami rolled his eyes but let go of me, instead turning his sights towards the cabinets. “I’m hungry!”

“Me too,” Atsushi agreed, and sifted through a different set of cabinets.

It was then that I remembered that Kagami could cook very well. “Kagami!”

He spared me a glance over his shoulder. “Yeah?”

I clapped my hands together and lifted them up, bowing my head. “P-please help me cook tofu soup!”

“Haah?” he snorted, then returned back to the cabinet that looked pretty empty. “Why would you want tofu soup? There’s no meat in it.”

“I-it’s not for me! It’s for my friend named Akashi! He’s sick and tofu soup is his favourite!” I explained, remaining in that position, eyes squeezed shut.

A bag of chips were crumpled, and I looked up. “Aka-chin is sick?” Atsushi looked distressed, which garnered Himuro’s attention.

“Ahh, Aka-chin, like Akashi Seijuurou?” he asked. Atsushi nodded.

Kagami jumped towards me. “Akashi Seijuurou? From the Generation of Miracles? I wanna beat him in basketball! Take me to him!”

“Don’t say that stupid name. Generation of Miracles. _Hah_.” Atsushi scoffed, carefully thumbing away the wrinkles he had made in the bag.

My eyes snapped to Atsushi. Colourful hair, tall enough to play basketball, knew Akashi, relatively weird, and was mad about the name Generation of Miracles? “Are you part of them?” I asked, trying to keep the timid stammer out of my voice.

Atsushi rolled his eyes but nodded.

“Oh.”

“Take me to see Akashi Seijuurou! I want to challenge him!” Kagami bellowed, and Himuro took that opportunity to hit the back of his head with a cereal box.

“Shut. Up.”

“ _Ta-a-atsuya_.” Kagami muttered with a whine in his voice, but crossed his arms and sighed. “If I make you tofu soup, will you take me to him?”

I bit my lip in thought. “He’s sick…”

“I won’t challenge him today, I swear, I’ll just let him know I’ll challenge him in the future.”

I did need help. “Well, okay, but you have to be very quiet when we go see him. He needs to rest.”

Kagami nodded. “Alright. Let’s go to the grocery store and get the ingredients.”

“I wanna make it too,” Atsushi said, already leaving the kitchen. “Let’s go, Muro-chin. You gotta buy me ice-cream too, remember?”

I gave Himuro a questioning look. “I lost five games of basketball in a row,” he explained, seeming a little bitter. However, he kept the smile on his face.

I patted his shoulder. “It’s not your fault. He probably doesn’t even need to stand on his toes to reach the hoop.”

Himuro snickered quietly and pushed Kagami out the door. “Let’s go, then.”

“Tatsuya, buy me ice-cream too, okay?” Kagami said, winding an arm around Himuro’s shoulders. Himuro sighed, but nodded in the end.

“You want some too, Kouki?” he asked.

I laughed shyly, averting my eyes. “Well…”

“ _Fine_.”

So we walked the fifteen minutes to the grocery store, the whole time trying to keep the bickering between Kagami and Atsushi to a minimum. It worked, as all they talked about was the discourse and stigma surrounded around people who could eat large amounts of food at one time. Himuro almost recorded it as a video, since it was such a rare moment of them getting along, but I stopped him before he could. He settled on just putting it on his snapchat story.

Once we got in, Kagami started reciting the ingredients list and I scrambled to pull my phone out and write it all down. Once finished, we didn’t split up, as I had assumed we would. Rather, we walked as a group to the nearest location of an ingredient and continued from there. There was no real method to it, and it was all very languid. Well, that was, until Atsushi stopped walking and said, “Hey, Mine-chin! Sa-chin!”

The Mine-chin and Sa-chin in question both turned around. The guy, a tall dark blue haired guy wearing a scowl as he glared at a box of animal crackers, looked up. Immediately his scowl flattened to a cocky look. “Isn’t this a surprise,” he said, shoving the box of crackers into the other person’s hands.

The other person was a shorter girl with long pink hair and… um… very voluptuous boobs. She angrily stuffed the crackers into the empty basket that was hanging off of her arm and looked like she was about to yell until she saw Atsushi.

“Mukkun!” she cried loudly, quickly running up to him to give him a hug. Atsushi smiled and bent down low to squeeze Sa-chin back once before releasing her.

“What are you doing here?” Mine-chin asked, cocking his head and wearing a ‘well, well, well, look who crossed onto my turf’ type of look.

I had to tilt my head back a little, but I saw Atsushi roll his eyes as he straightened up. “It’s the grocery store.”

Mine-chin sputtered a little at this less-than-enthusiastic response, but quickly recovered with a wave of his hand. “Yeah, yeah. Who are these people?”

Kagami behind me was getting a little antsy, like he wanted to speak. Himuro didn’t seem to have much of a reaction. In fact, he seemed a little spaced out.

“Ah,” Atsushi said, then waved a hand at each of us. “This is Shitty Eyebrows, this is Muro-chin, and this is Kou-chin. Guys, these are Mine-chin and Sa-chin.”

I internally slapped my forehead with my palm. I guessed that he wasn’t about to share our actual names.

“Stop fucking around, Murasakibara!” Kagami yelled, then stepped forward to plant himself in front of Mine-chin. He stabbed a thumb at himself. “I’m Kagami Taiga. Are you Aomine Daiki from the Generation of Miracles?”

“People still say that?” I heard ‘Aomine Daiki’ mutter to himself, but he sighed. “Yeah, so?”

Kagami pointed at him, rather violently, really and announced, “I challenge you to a game of basketball. I’m gonna defeat you!”

Aomine looked taken aback at this statement. A small laugh, as if he found this statement ridiculous, bubbled out, then gave way to full belly laughs. He had to rest against the shelf next to him, he was laughing so hard. I watched on, a little uneasy. He didn’t say anything particularly funny, though I did agree that it was somewhat ridiculous.

“You’re gonna defeat me?” he practically giggled.

“Dai-chan!” Sa-chin yelled sharply, and Aomine immediately stood up straight and tried to restrain his laughs.

Once he’d stopped laughing and realized that Kagami was glaring at him, Aomine’s grin died away and a more intense, fiery look grew in his eyes. He stared right back at Kagami. “Listen, if you wanna try, then go ahead. But from my experiences, the only one who could ever beat me is me, so don’t get your hopes up.”

Kagami raised a brow, not seeming very intimidated by his scary look. Instead, he looked a little confused, but determined. “I’ll beat you right now!”

Aomine raised a brow. “Oh yeah? How?”

Kagami reached back and snatched my empty basket from me. “Whoever can get everything they need and then get back to the check-out first, wins.”

While Aomine seemed as if he wasn’t about to waste his energy on something he was certain that he would win, he still walked over to Sa-chin to take the basket from her. “Fine. But don’t cry at the end when you lose.”

Kagami grinned widely. “Oh, we’ll see who’s crying at the end. Tatsuya, tell us when to start!”

Aomine blinked. He probably didn’t think Kagami was serious. But no, the tall basketball player was already in position, ready to run. Warily, Aomine took the same position.

“One… two… three… go,” Himuro said airily and walked out of the aisle, muttering something about getting a new basket.

In the meantime, Sa-chin smiled at me. “What’s your name? I’m Momoi Satsuki,” she extended her hand to shake.

Hoping that my palms weren’t clammy, I lightly gripped her hand in my own and shook it. “I-I’m Furihata Kouki. Um, the guy who just walked off was Himuro Tatsuya, and the guy in a race with your friend is Kagami Taiga. Sorry about all this.”

Momoi shook her head fondly. “No, no, don’t worry about it. It’s actually kind of nice to see Dai-chan all fired up.”

“He still…” Atsushi began, tilting his head to look down at Momoi through his hair. He didn’t finish the sentence.

She nodded her head, shoulders slumped.

Before, I could process what had happened, Himuro returned with a basket and stood next to me. “Let’s get the ice cream, then?” he seemed back to normal now, pleasant smile on his face, eyes unreadable.

Atsushi’s face very visibly lit up. “Yeah, let’s go,” he said, pushing past Himuro to lead the way there. Momoi took a few hurried steps so that she was next to him, speaking about something.

“Let’s go,” I prompted Himuro, who had reverted back to his distracted state. He started at my words, but nodded and followed Atsushi and Momoi. He didn’t say anything until we were right behind him.

As we walked to the other side of the store that housed the ice cream freezers, Atsushi groaned and hung off of Momoi’s shoulders and head. “Sa-chi-i-i-n, how come you never talk to me anymore?” he whined. Himuro’s grip on his basket tightened until his knuckles looked an uncomfortable white. I stayed quiet, because I didn’t want to get on Himuro’s bad side. But I wasn’t exactly sure why his bad side was showing at all.

Momoi giggled, reaching up to pat Atsushi’s head. “Sorry Mukkun, you know how much work Dai-chan is. Like, last week I had to break the washroom door down because Dai-chan fell asleep on the toilet again.”

Atsushi huffed a laugh. “You guys moved in together?”

Himuro loosened his grip on the basket.

“Yeah, our parents actually suggested it. They said it’d be easier for us and for them,” she explained. “But now it’s hard to get someone to go out with me, because Dai-chan keeps on making scary faces at them. He’s so protective.” I could practically hear her rolling her eyes. One glance at his knuckles showed that Himuro was trying to choke the life out of the basket handle again.

Atsushi stood up straight once the ice cream freezers were in sight. “That’s okay. Sa-chin already has six guys, why would she want a boyfriend.”

Momoi shoved his arm, and Atsushi laughed quietly again. “Shut up, you know it’s different. But I wouldn’t mind if… y’know… like before.”

Running a hand through his hair, pushing the loose strands away from his face, he peered into the freezer with the utmost concentration.

“Your hair is getting so long. Do you even brush it?” Momoi asked, opening the door of one of the freezers and pulling out a box of ice cream cones. She handed it to Atsushi, and he almost grinned, patting her head.

“I do, but it’s such a bother. You need to make it all nice again. No one touches my hair anymore.”

“You’ve never even asked, that’s why,” Himuro muttered. I jumped a little at the sudden sound, and looked to Himuro only to realize that he had probably said that to himself, what with his eyes locked on the floor and the grip on his basket unrelenting.

“U-uh, but why would he ask you, uh, t-to touch his hair?” I whispered, and this time he jumped, but not as obviously as I did.

Blinking a few times at me, his face began to get a little red. “U-uh, well, th-that’s not…” he rapidly got Atsushi’s attention with his eyes. “Is that the ice cream you want? I’ll put it in the basket. Let’s go meet up with Taiga.” He snatched the ice cream from Atsushi’s hands—who simply shrugged—and marched down the aisle towards the front of the store.

Atsushi gave me a questioning look, but I shrugged in response so he shrugged as well and trailed behind Himuro at a slower pace, listening to Momoi chatter about something else. I followed behind them.

When we got to the registers, we saw both Kagami and Aomine huffing and sprawled on the ground next to two baskets full of food.

“I—“ Kagami huffed. “I won.”

Aomine shook his head, wiping sweat off of his forehead. “No,” huff huff, “I won. You know I did. It was by a full second.”

Kagami scoffed, but seemed too tired to formulate a response. Himuro lightly kicked Kagami’s foot. “Get off the floor, otherwise they’ll kick you out.”

Nodding, he slowly got up and leaned heavily against Himuro’s shoulder. “I won, bro.”

“Yeah, yeah. I hope you didn’t get anything unnecessary.” Shaking Kagami off, Himuro glanced at me, then at the food. I jumped into action, running over to pick up the basket and start loading the contents onto the cashier’s conveyer belt.

“I-I’ll be paying, don’t worry!” I said, and Momoi picked up Aomine’s groceries and set them up behind mine.

Aomine staggered back up into a standing position, eyes falling onto what Himuro held in his hands. The box of ice cream cones. He tugged Momoi’s hand to bring her close, then bent down to whisper something in her ear fervently. Momoi tugged her hand out of his and shook her head.

“No, Dai-chan, buy it yourself.”

“Please, Satsuki, _please_. I’m broke this month, I told you. Remember those shoes? I’m saving up. You’re always telling me to save and now when I am, you’re punishing me,” Aomine grasped both of her hands this time and gave her a pouty look.

Snarling, she ripped her hands out his grip and shoved him aside. “Stupid Dai-chan! I hate you sometimes!” she yelled as she stomped away.

Aomine grinned winningly at Atsushi, and that grin only widened when Atsushi nodded with approval.

“Why’s she so mad?” Kagami mumbled, scratching his head absently.

“She’s buying me ice cream.” Aomine said proudly, as if he didn’t sound like a four year old. I stifled a laugh.

“Are you two dating?” Himuro asked, not seeming the least bit interested in the answer, despite him asking the question. But he cocked his head in a polite feign of interest.

Aomine didn’t seem to mind. Instead, he raised his chin and flashed a confident smile. “I’m working on it.”

Atsushi scoffed at this, and Himuro turned his gaze up to meet his eyes, raising a brow. “What?”

“Mine-chin has been working on it for years. They’re childhood friends. He’s been after her since before first year. But she isn’t interested in him.”

“She is!” Aomine shouted indignantly, shoving Atsushi’s arm. “She just doesn’t realize it yet. The girl is dense.”

“That’s funny, coming from you,” Atsushi said, and Aomine opened his mouth to retort back but was distracted by Momoi returning and throwing the box onto the conveyer belt.

“You have to wash the dishes now.”

Aomine just smirked triumphantly. He wasn't all too concerned with what he had to do. The smugness of getting what he wanted ice cream seemed to be overriding any other possible thoughts of the consequences.

After saying goodbye to Aomine and Momoi, the rest of us returned back to the dorms, Kagami and Atsushi following us up onto the fourth floor. In the span of time between us leaving for the grocery store and returning, the building staff had managed to begin repairs on the elevator. Which only meant the stairs. I could feel the burn in my thighs just after the first few steps.

“Why were you guys in our kitchen anyway?” I asked breathlessly, suffering as I tried to drag two bags up the stairs.

“I guess both of us were visiting Tatsuya.” Kagami replied, not even breaking a sweat. “Go faster, Furi!”

I groaned, and sped up as much as I could. The next hour could be lightly dubbed as ‘chaos’. While it seemed both Kagami and Atsushi were exceptional cooks, they were incompatible in the kitchen, and Himuro ended up doing most of the work (turned out that he was a great cook as well. I felt a little underwhelming with my lack of cooking abilities).

After two water fights (during which I hid next to the refrigerator, because I swore I was seeing lasers or something coming out of their eyes), Himuro gave the both of them a good whack and had them sit apart from each other at the kitchen table while he finished up the work. Once it was safe to come out, I did my best to help out by cutting vegetables and boiling things and stirring the soup, though Himuro did most of it.

Putting the soup in a canister, I put it in a plastic bag, stuck a spoon wrapped in a napkin in there, and then decided that we should head back to the room. Himuro spent the walk down the hall lecturing the both of them to not fight, because we were going to visit a sick person.

Once we got there, I knocked on the door. Kagami, Atsushi and Himuro stood behind me, with Himuro holding the canister of soup.

“It’s still open,” Akashi’s voice replied.

I hesitantly opened the door and peeked inside to see Akashi in the same place that he was before, but thumbing through his phone. “It’s been nearly three hours,” he pointed out.

I winced. “Yeah, I’m sorry… uh, but I got the tofu soup!”

Akashi put his phone down and rolled onto his side, propping himself up using his elbow. “Did you make it?”

I thought about this before answering. “Technically, yes. I-I got some help from my friends.”

“Kou-chi-i-i-n, I wanna see Aka-chin, hurry up.”

Akashi perked up in the most subtle of ways. He straightened his back and lost his blasé demeanour. “You’ve brought guests,” he stated.

I nodded. “Y-yeah, well, they helped me make the soup once they heard it was for you, but I had to take them to you in return. They wanted to see how you were doing.”

Akashi sat up, but I quickly hurried over to push him back against the mattress. “You _need_ to rest, Akashi-kun.”

“Hey, Aka-chin,” Atsushi walked in, probably impatient after being left to stand outside. With an awkward demeanour, Kagami then Himuro walked in after him, shutting the door.

“Atsushi,” Akashi greeted, not really smiling, but not frowning either. He paid no mind to his two extra guests who stood in a corner of the room away from Akashi.

Atsushi paused at his name, but then got down on his knees and then put his palm on Akashi’s forehead. “You’re not hot,” Atsushi said, confused. Then, he squinted at Akashi. Akashi blinked back. “Oh, it’s the other Aka-chin. Hey.”

“Other Akashi-kun?” I repeated, examining Akashi over Atsushi’s shoulder. “This isn’t your friend?”

“He’s my friend,” Atsushi replied simply. “But this is the other one. There are two Aka-chins.” He peered down at Akashi. “Why’d you tell him you were sick? You look fine.”

“I didn’t. I _am_ fine,” Akashi replied, and finally peeled back his covers to sit up successfully.

I was at a loss. I wanted to tell them that he was in fact sick with jaundice, but I didn’t want to tell everyone about it. I didn’t want him to be embarrassed. Instead, I settled for sitting down and scooting right up to Akashi, hip to hip, then whispering, “But what about the jaundice, Akashi-kun?”

Akashi shook his head and spoke at a normal volume. “I don’t have jaundice. Kuroko was lying.”

I scooted back a little in surprise. “B-But what about your eye? And why’d you make me make you tofu soup if you weren’t sick?”

“Aka-chin is a liar sometimes too. That’s why Kuro-chin and him got along well,” Atsushi supplied, and Himuro covered his mouth with the hand that wasn’t holding the tofu soup to muffle his laugh.

“I am not a liar. I omit the truth.” Akashi shot back, but didn’t seem at all offended. In fact, his face was almost content.

Atsushi sat down and crossed his legs, leaning his head on the bed next to Akashi’s knees. “This Aka-chin is sneakier than the other one.”

Akashi smiled down at him fondly. “My older brother is more soft-hearted than I am.”

I noticed Kagami lean over to Himuro. “I’m confused bro, what’s happening?”

“I’m confused too!” I yelled, throwing my hands up.

Akashi sighed, then patted the space next to him on the bed for me to sit down.

I stubbornly shook my head.

His eyes narrowed, but relented. “I have an interesting case of Dissociative Identity Disorder. Meaning, I have two personalities. But we are both aware of each other. I’m the second personality. I am the younger brother.”

“You can tell because he has the Emperor Eye,” Atsushi cut in. “The golden eye. It lets him see the future.”

“Th-the future?” I stammered, kind of wishing I had taken up Akashi’s offer to sit down on the bed. My knees felt week. Two personalities was one thing, but superpowers? “Are you a psychic? Can you read minds?”

“Hey!” Kagami barked. “Don’t read my mind!”

Akashi blinked at Kagami as if he were surprised he was there at all, let alone had the gall to address him in such a gruff manner. “No…” he said slowly, as if we were kindergarteners, he slowly peeled his eyes away from Kagami to address me. “Atsushi embellished it. I can’t see the future, but I have the heightened ability to predict a person’s next move.”

“O-oh.”

“Who are you, anyway?” the question was directed towards Kagami and Himuro.

“Muro-chin hangs out with me,” Atsushi said. “Shitty Eyebrows follows me around.”

“I do _not_ ,” Kagami said very strongly. “I came here to let you know that I’m going to challenge you to basketball once you feel better! Prepare to lose, Generation of Miracles’ Akashi Seijuurou!”

“Uh, Kagami, he’s not—” my explanation was cut off when Akashi got up and reached for a pen.

“Is that so?” he inquired, distracted, holding the pen in his palm. Then-- out of nowhere--, with lightning quick speed, he lunged for Kagami’s face, pen held like a spear, the pointy part aimed at his left eye.

Kagami, bless his quick reflexes, moved out of the way fast enough, but the pen did graze his cheekbone enough to leave a trail of ink and a pink scratch.

“A-A-Akashi-kun, w-what the fuck!” I yelled, tripping over Atsushi to snatch the pen from his hand. Himuro stepped in front of Kagami to stare down Akashi with enough anger to scare a monster. This time, there was no fake smile accompanied with the threatening look.

Akashi’s eyes widened, glinting with something almost manic, meeting Himuro’s glare head-on. He grinned. “I will be pleased to challenge you. Anytime. Come and get me when you are able.” He spoke to Kagami, but kept up the staring contest with Himuro.

“Crazy ass sonofa—” Kagami began, but I threw open the door and pushed him out into the hallway.

Himuro followed, his obvious priority his little brother. He aimed one last sneer towards Akashi while he passed me the tofu soup. I didn’t know what to do with it.

Atsushi got up to trail after them. Before he crossed the threshold, he looked at Akashi over his shoulder. “That wasn’t very nice, Aka-chin.”

Akashi shrugged. “I had to make sure he was worthy.”

“This is like the second time, Aka-chin. First the scissors, now a pen? I’m gonna tell Mido-chin to hide any sharp objects from you.” And then he left.

It was just Akashi and I who remained. The room suddenly felt all too small and quiet.

“Is that the tofu soup? Excellent. Thank you, Kouki.” He acted as if he hadn’t just tried to stab someone’s eye out.

“K-K-Kouki?” There were so many other questions I wanted to ask him, but the one about the usage of my first name was the only one to come out.

“That is your name, isn’t it?”

He approached me and reached to grab the bag holding the canister of tofu soup. Instinctively, I flinched and raised the bag to cover my face.

“Ah, are you frightened of me, now?” Akashi chuckled. He took the bag from my hand and placed it on his desk.

While his back was turned, I inched towards the door, but his eyes flashed with something I couldn’t identify when he suddenly faced me. “You can’t leave.”

Was he going to kidnap me? Kill me? All because Kuroko played a stupid prank on me. If I died, I was going to make sure to haunt him forever. “I can leave if I want,” I said bravely. I was kind of proud of myself for standing up to him. The… the scary prince. 

Akashi opened the canister and shut his eyes in what seemed like bliss as the scent wafted up to his nose. “Ah, that’s beautiful, Kouki. Thank you.” Putting the cap down, he approached me, and I took several steps back until my back hit a wall. “And you can’t leave because I haven’t upheld my end of the bargain.”

“I-I think I know enough.”

“No, you don’t.” He stepped close enough for me to be able to feel his breath softly against my face. I noticed that he had perfectly smooth skin. Nope, this was not a time for me to be feeling envious. “You need to know _everything_.”

I turned my face away, “No I don’t.”

“I want you to.”

“I don’t want to.”

“My older brother wants you to.”

“I-I don’t care.” I was too scared to care.

“He’s very hurt now, Kouki. Shall I call him back? Would you rather talk to him?”

“I wanna go back to my own room.” I practically whimpered. I could feel myself trembling.

Suddenly, Akashi took a step back, and was smiling again. “I, as in this personality, was created when I had a mental breakdown in middle school. My mother had recently passed, and my father was putting more and more pressure on me. My older brother wasn’t able to cope, and he got scared, so he made me.”

“Stop, I don’t want to listen.” I said, shrinking into myself. I didn’t want to hear it. He already scared me. I needed time to process the whole stabbing thing first.

“In high school, he figured out how to control himself and his own personality to the point where he didn’t need me anymore. I didn’t come out until last year, my second year of university. Because of a falling out with my friends, I was back. But he got it under control again until now.”

Damn it. Why was I so curious? I couldn’t help but ask, “Wh-what’s so special about now?”

Akashi didn’t even try to hide his smirk at capturing my attention. “Last weekend, my father said some very cruel things and then doubled my workload. I am under immense stress, and am in a little pain from it. That’s why I’m back. My brother is very soft-hearted.”

Damn it. I’d have to suck it up and push away my fear, because Akashi was hurting. It was hard being a self-proclaimed coward sometimes.

With gentle movements, I took a few steps towards Akashi and slowly extended my hand to lightly place it on Akashi’s arm. “I-I’m really sorry, Akashi-kun,” I whispered. I didn’t know what else to say.

But somehow, with those simple words, Akashi lost the stiffness in his body with a long sigh. “I’m sorry as well. That pen thing was quite out of line, especially if Atsushi of all people was scolding me,” he said and put his hand over mine. I held back a flinch of surprise. “And I scared you as well. My brother will not forgive me easily. He really likes you.”

Involuntarily, a blush rose to my cheeks and I slipped my hand out from under his, crossing my arms. “Y-yes, well, we’re friends.”

Akashi seemed a little saddened by this. He went back to his soup and sat down at his desk.

“Um… are you okay?” I asked, chewing my lip in worry. Why did he look sad?

Akashi gave me a dry smile, then rolled his eyes. “I have weakness as well, it seems.”

I laughed quietly. “It’s okay. I’m probably ninety-five percent weakness, and the rest of the five percent is used to make sure I don’t faint whenever I get scared.” Sucking up any fear that Akashi would stab me randomly, I sat down at the foot of his bed next to his desk while he chuckled at my joke. Relieved that it wasn’t the manic sort of laughing that I’d expected, I asked him, “What’s your weakness? A-ah! I mean, if you’re comfortable sharing it… that is…”

Akashi shrugged and picked out the spoon from inside the bag. Twirling it absently around his fingers, he stared at the spoon with a distant, but concentrated look.  He remained like that, face set in that expression, until he blinked then looked at me. “My… weakness. It’s quite foolish, really. I… I sometimes wish that I could make friends as easily as my brother. Everyone seems to get along with him. But they’re quite distant with me. It’s… saddening.”

My eyes widened. I couldn’t help it. Of all the things that I had anticipated hearing—things that perhaps had something to do with his company or his stress—it had not been that. It was much more… real and raw.

Unsettled by the way he was looking down into his lap with clenched fists and slumped shoulders, I tapped his arm once to get him to look at me. When he did, I grinned as brightly as I could. “I’ll be your friend. You didn't scare me away.”

His eyes turned into large circles, and his mouth hung open slightly. “I-If you’re sure… I suppose that would be… nice.”

“It’ll be more than nice!” I said, then gave him a very stern look.

He seemed taken aback at this sudden change in countenance. “What is it?”

“You owe me for tricking me. You and Kuroko. That soup was hard to make, y’know. I paid for the ingredients myself!”

He raised a brow, and slowly sat back. “You want… compensation? Money? I will pay for it, if it really bothers you.”

I shook my head. “No, no. You gotta do something for me.” More for show than anything else, I tapped my chin and thought hard. “You could… Oh! I got it! You have to help me get Kuroko back.”

He wasn’t following me. “Get him back?”

“Revenge!” I declared, thumping my fist against his desk hard enough to shake the canister. Akashi wrapped his hands around it protectively. “Kuroko has been teasing me and tricking me _ever since_ I moved into the same room as him. You need to help me get him back. You’ve known him longer, so you know what really gets him annoyed. You _have_ to help me.”

Akashi snorted, but put a hand over his mouth to cover his expression. “Tetsuya is very hard to trick. But if you want to annoy him, just put him and Shintarou in a room together for an hour, and have Shintarou speak about how his daily routine is perfect and optimal for everyday improvement. It really irritates him.”

“Shintarou?” I asked.

“Midorima Shintarou. Very tall. Green hair. Hard to miss.”

“Oh! I know him! Was he part of the Generation of Miracles as well?” I asked. Akashi’s eyebrow twitched a little at the name, but nodded. I frowned. “But it’s hard to get Midorima-san to do anything. Only Takao seems to have that power. Is there anything else?”

Akashi’s face lit up, and I had to sit back. His excited face was really something different. It made him look younger, more boyish. “I have a plan.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello friends!!!
> 
> This is long. It's not very heavily edited, but I spent a while on it because it was written over the course of me avoiding all my assignments. I hope you enjoy it. Tell me if you have any guesses about Akashi's plan!!
> 
> Love,  
> Me  
> (Ree)


	6. We're Bad At Pranks

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Furihata and Akashi get to a new friendship level and together try to get back at Kuroko.

All of the plans that Akashi suggested were either too expensive, too harmful, or both.

“A-Akashi, I know you’re trying to help me… but shaving Kuroko’s head while he sleeps isn’t very… nice,” I spoke softly, gently, slowly letting down Akashi’s tenth idea. It was evident he was getting frustrated by the slight lowering of his brows and the sharpness in his eyes.

“Your ideas aren’t _vengeful_ enough,” Akashi shot back immediately. “Prank calling his phone and asking whether he ordered a pizza? I’ve done worse things when I was _twelve_.”

It was a day after Akashi had tried to stab Kagami (I was still very frightened by that, but I knew that if I let it show, Akashi would be hurt. So I kept a polite distance and held eye contact for as long as I deemed necessary. It wasn’t that hard, however. Whenever I forgot momentarily that Akashi had done something like that, I could speak with him as if everything was normal). After my classes, and in between Akashi’s, I had bumped into Akashi as we were both heading for the dorms, and he asked whether I would like to grab some coffee instead. After only a moment of hesitation, I said yes.

So we sat in the Zone, with Kawahara shooting me incredulous ‘we’ve gotta talk about this when you’re free’ looks in between every customer, two paper cups respectively full of a mocha coffee and some sort of herbal tea resting untouched in front of us.

Accompanying the cups were pieces and pieces of torn, balled up, and scratched out notebook paper.

I let his comment slide off of my back and instead lifted a page to his face, “How’s this one? This one is good.”

He took it from my hand and scanned it over with an efficiency that could have only come from doing this sort of thing daily. He looked almost professional, as if he was sitting at a business meeting reviewing some documents of national importance rather than in a coffee shop trying to translate my scribbles into Japanese. “You want to… do what? Hide all of his shoes?”

I nodded proudly.

Akashi balled up the paper and tossed it at my forehead with an exasperated roll of his eyes and a huff of a laugh. “As cute as that is, you need to be tough with Tetsuya.”

“Ow…” I whined quietly, rubbing the spot the paper had hit me. It hit the middle of my forehead with surprising precision.

Akashi put his elbows on the table, threaded his fingers together and rested his chin on them. “Let me think…”

“Kawaharacchi! Coffee, please!” I heard someone yell, and it took me less than a second to remember that the only person I knew who ended their names like that was Kise Ryouta. I peeked over my shoulder.

Yup, there he was, dressed very fashionably, but this time not toting around a disgruntled senpai. Rather, he was walking in front of Midorima, who followed him inside with a stony expression. And where Midorima was… there was Takao, coming right after him, hands stuffed in his pockets, wearing a quirky hat with cat ears.

Takao gave me a grin when our eyes met and immediately came over. “Furi-kun! What’s up?”

I gestured at the paper on the table. “Planning.”

He raised a brow, picking up one of the papers to unfold it, squinting at the writing. “Hire some middle-schoolers to attack Tetsuya with water balloons? Holy fuck, did you think of this? It’s insane.”

A pert, singular cough came from the other side of the table. “That was mine, actually.”

Takao examined Akashi, who stared back just as hard. It was a little uncomfortable watching… whatever it was that was going on. I forgot sometimes that Takao had the potential to be a little dangerous, what with his way of reading people.

“And you are?” Takao asked, with an impish grin. It looked like he was gearing up to piss someone off. I sat with some tension in my shoulders, subtly scanning the nearby area for any potential dangerous objects. Hot tea… two pens, and paper. Could paper be dangerous? Well, he made pens unsafe, so I wouldn’t rule that out.

As I opened my mouth to try and diffuse the situation, Midorima’s deep voice cut in. “Akashi,” he greeted, stepping up next to Takao and passing him a steaming paper cup. “Furihata.”

“Midorimacchi, don’t just lea—Akashicchi. Oh! You’re here too! And… Kurokocchi’s friend? Kawaharacchi’s friend?” Kise followed Midorima, also clutching a cup. He looked thoughtful.

“Furihata Kouki,” Akashi said finally, when the silence had drawn out to the point of being awkward.

“Y-yes?” I answered, at the same time Kise made a sound of remembrance.

“Ah, yes, Furihata.”

Akashi gave me a questioning look, and I could feel sweat beading on my head and my face turning red. He had been supplying Kise my name, not calling out to me. And I’d answered. I wanted to bury myself.

Takao, the asshole, practically cackled and thumped me on the back twice. “Funny, Furi-kun. Look, Shin-chan. They’re trying to kill a person named Tetsuya!” he sounded almost cheerful.

I waved both of my arms frantically in front of me when Midorima shot me an affronted look. “N-no! Midorima-san, I swear—”

“Why don’t you three pull up a seat?” Akashi averted the attention to himself smoothly, with a small smile that seemed much too practiced.

Kise and Midorima looked conflicted for a moment, staring very pointedly at Akashi’s eyes, but in that span of time Takao was already dragging three chairs loudly against the tiles of the floor towards our table. I could see Kawahara wincing at the screeching sound of metal against the vinyl flooring.

Takao plopped down immediately, and stuck his hand in the pile, grabbing a sheet of paper at random.

“Hm, Furi-kun definitely wrote this one: change his vanilla shake to a chocolate one for a week,” Takao laughed.

“Again, that was mine,” Akashi said, and Takao raised a brow.

“You’re saying that you—the person who wanted some guy attacked by crazy middle schoolers—wants to do something as tame as switching his milkshake order?”

Akashi narrowed his eyes.

“Whose milkshakes!” Kise asked, twisting his body around Midorima’s torso to get a look at the paper. “Why would you want that Akashicchi? Are you tormenting small children?”

“It’s Tetsuya,” Akashi answered, completely ignoring Kise’s comment about small children. “He’s been teasing Kouki for months. We’re getting him back.”

Kise stared wide eyed at me, “Whoa, and you’ve got Akashicchi working for you? Amazing. How much are you paying him?”

I opened my mouth to speak, throat dry, but Akashi once more brought the spotlight back to himself. “I volunteered. Kouki is my friend.” At the word friend, Akashi snuck a quick glance at me, as if asking permission to be able to use that word.

I gave him a small, close-lipped smile.

Midorima decided to speak, then, “I want no part of this. Kuroko is vengeful when he wants to be, and our signs are already not compatible.”

While Takao loudly protested Midorima backing out of something none of them had signed up for anyway, Kise chiming in his own supporting arguments, Akashi leaned closer to me over the table. He beckoned me towards him with a compact nod of his head. I did as I was told, bringing my ear near Akashi’s mouth.

“Are you sure we can’t use my original idea?” he asked. I could feel his breath tickling the shell of my ear.

I suppressed a shiver and instead turned my head forward in confusion, “Which one?” We were nearly nose to nose, and I could see the flecks of red and gold in his eyes. And his eyelashes. He had very long eyelashe—

“We lock Shintarou in a room with Tetsuya for a few hours. It’s the best one.”

I peeped at Midorima, who appeared as if he was ready to tear off both of Takao and Kise’s heads and showcase them on sticks in his front yard. “Midorima-san will be really mad, though!” _Don’t think of his eyes, Kouki, that’s sappy and disgusting._

Akashi waved that away, “Let me handle it. Trust me. It’ll be great. A more elaborate scheme was definitely the wrong approach. This is simple and—”

“Are you two gonna kiss?” Takao’s voice loudly blared, and I lost my balance in surprise, hands flailing to find some sort of stability. In the process, I smashed my head against Akashi’s nose, and he grunted in pain.

I looked up immediately to see Akashi clutching his nose with both hands, eyes screwed shut. “A-Akashi-kun, I’m so sorry!” I cried, pushing myself forward over the table, managing to knock over my coffee and his tea all over the surface, papers almost immediately turning to a brown pile of mush. The hot liquid seeped through the fabric of my shirt to reach my skin, and I yelped in pain. I tried to scoot back towards my seat, but the smushy paper caused the heels of my wrists to slip, and in the end, I simply ended up lying on the wet table. I sighed in defeat, just accepting the fact that I’d have burns on my stomach for who knew how long.

It was quiet. I didn’t even want to raise my head to look at everyone else. They were probably laughing.

“Wow, Furi-kun, that was—” Takao began, but then was cut off by my godsend, Kawahara.

“Furi!” he yelled, running over with some towels and a plastic bag. He hesitated for a second outside of the ring of seats around the table, but ultimately shoved past Takao’s chair to reach me.

With quick hands, Kawahara grabbed one of his cloths and swiped up the mess into the plastic bag. The rest of us quietly watched as he worked. He pulled a spray bottle out of his apron and squeezed the handle twice, then used the cloth once more to scrub at the sticky residue left on the surface of the table.

In no time, the table was clean, and Kawahara was grabbing my wrist. “Let’s go Furi, we gotta make sure that there aren’t any burns.”

“Wait—” Akashi tried, but Kawahara dragged me away without a single glance back.

He pulled me into the washroom which was—thankfully—empty. “Take off your wet stuff, I’ll give you my clothes.”

“But—”

He put a hand up to stop me, a wry smile on his face. “I’ll just wear my work clothes home.”

“Oh.”

“I’ll be back.”

And then he left. And not two seconds after he left, Akashi walked in, a sense of purpose in each step.

“Kouki,” he sighed. He gave me a once over, eyes troubled. His nose was still a little red.

I turned to face the stalls, beginning to unbutton my shirt. I didn’t want to look at him, I wanted to instead crawl into a hole and die. “S-sorry about your nose,” I mumbled, shucking the shirt off, the t-shirt I was wearing underneath quickly following.

“I’m fine, Kouki. Are you?” Akashi asked, his voice all business, but in a gentle way. I glanced down at my stomach, poking a little at the redness. It stung.

I spun on my heel to face Akashi with a sheepish smile, “Well, how bad does this look to you?”

Akashi didn’t really say anything, face blank, but did seem to drag his eyes slowly from my face down to my hips, then back up. Then he blinked and put on a thoughtful look.   

“Hmm…” he hummed, not meeting my eyes. His gaze remained on me, and I had to say, I was getting a little uncomfortable. But I fought the urge to wrap my arms around my torso. “Hm, hm, hm.”

“Well?”

“Here you go, Furi,” Kawahara burst in with a grin. “It might stink a little, but beggars can’t be choosers—Oh.”

Kawahara scrunched his nose at Akashi, then raised an eyebrow at me. Akashi finally looked away, choosing instead to inspect the wall above the mirrors.

“I don’t think it’s too serious, Kouki, but it would be in your best interest to put some medicine on that, the type for burns. If,” Akashi cleared his throat, “if you don’t own any, I could arrange to lend you mine. But I see that you’re in good hands, so I’ll see you later. I, uh, I have a class. Goodbye.”

And then he was gone.

Kawahara burst into rambunctious laughter, practically howling as he held the sink for support. “What the hell was that!”

“Wh-what… do you mean?” I asked, hesitantly, not sure why he was laughing. I felt even more horrible right then. I’d made Akashi uncomfortable in some way, probably because I took my shirt off. Because of all the basketball I played in high school, I was completely used to changing in front of other guys. I’d assumed Akashi would be the same, but I shouldn’t have.

O-Or maybe my stomach was ugly? I mean, I wasn’t completely flabby, but the abs that I’d had in high school were practically gone. There was just the barest hint of muscle left.

“That guy was so obviously checking you out, holy shit. It was so awkward. I can’t wait to tell Fukuda you’ve got an admirer.”

I shook my head vehemently. “No, no, what are you talking about? He wasn’t checking me out, I asked him to see whether the burn was very bad.”

Kawahara scoffed. “That was the least medicalized gaze in the world. Trust me. Now shut up and put these on,” he balled up the clothes and whipped it at me, and I caught it against my chest with a dull _whump_. “Then do what your lover said to do—put some burn medicine on that.”

“H-He’s not my lover!” I yelled after him while he uncaringly left the washroom, tossing a knowing smirk over his shoulder. “Asshole.”

When I left the washroom, damp clothes in a bundle under my arm, Akashi was gone, as were Midorima, Kise, and Takao. I guess the whole meeting was useless, we hadn’t come to any conclusion about what to do.

Sighing, I decided it would just be better to head back to my room to deal with the burn.

-x-x-x-

Two days later, I got my midterm mark back.

It was a bare pass.

My heart sunk down to my stomach.

I lay down, face smushed against the pillow. I would not cry. I would breathe steadily. I would move past this. I’d work harder and get better grades and would _not_ be kicked out of university.

I would _not_ be kicked out of university.

Scrunching my face tight, I let out a pained groan.

Suddenly, there were four heavy knocks against my door. They sounded serious. It was probably the Registrar’s office, here to pull me out of my room and toss me and my belongings into the street.

“Come in,” I called, voice muffled against the pillow.

But I suppose they heard me, because the knob turned, the door creaked, and a pair of feet padded into the room.

“Furihata?” I was too deep in my puddle of self-pity to care enough about figuring out who the voice belonged to. If anything, it blended into the sounds of my own angry thoughts, just barely registerable.

“Hmm?”

“What are you doing?”

“Trying to speed up my body’s degeneration so that I can die sooner,” I replied with a forlorn sigh.

“Don’t say that, Furihata.”

I tilted my head up so that I could see who I was speaking with. I might as well. Familiar bright red hair assaulted my vision, causing me to squint. Oh, Akashi. My face began to burn with the memory of two days ago.

I shoved my face back into the dark. “Did you need something, Akashi-kun?”

“I’ve thought up of a way to get back at Kuroko.”

Somehow, I managed to sag deeper into the mattress. “I’m done with all that stuff. It’s too… petty.”

Kuroko then chose this moment to walk into the room. “Oh, it seems you’ve repaired your relationship with—”

I sprang up and shot myself across the room to tackle Kuroko into silence. “Do. Not. _Please_.” He lay on the ground calmly with me half draped over him, blinking at me with those big blue eyes that seemed much too innocent for the person that owned them.

“Relationship?”

I glanced back at Akashi. He had his head tilted, like a curious puppy.

But Akashi was the farthest thing from a puppy, so perhaps it wasn’t the best analogy. Maybe, like a curious lion? That made more sense.

“W-with, uh, someone from work. At the bookstore. I work there. And I, uh, um, h-had a falling out with someone? A coworker? So we… sorted that out,” I stumbled through my explanation, and I could feel Kuroko stifling a laugh under my arm.

“I… see. Well,” he glanced away for a moment, then returned his eyes to mine. “Would you like to perhaps come to my room? So that we can talk about… the project.”

I guess I wasn’t getting out of that. “Sure,” I shrugged, standing up. Once I did, and was finally face-to-face with him, I realized that Akashi’s eyes were both red again.

“Oh, Akashi-kun!” I smiled. “It’s you!” It was weird, kind of like I was seeing an old friend again, but in the same person? “W-when…?”

The edges of Akashi’s lips turned up. “Yes. Just a while ago. It just happens, don’t worry about it. Speaking of that, Kuroko… jaundice?”

Kuroko quietly picked himself up and dusted off his pants. “I felt it wasn’t my place to mention what was really the matter.”

Akashi seemed as if he really badly wanted to roll his eyes, but he settled for simply just smirking. “I see… Are you ready then, Furihata?”

I put some slippers on then opened the door in reply. “Bye Kuroko.”

“Goodbye, Furihata-kun,” he smiled.

We walked down to Akashi’s room quietly, but when he opened the door we were greeted with shrieking.

“Hayama-kun, that is _not_ something presentable to wear to a job interview, what are you thinking?” A tall, very pretty guy stood there, scowling at Hayama.

To the guy’s credit, Hayama probably shouldn’t wear a jersey with a blazer over it and skinny jeans to a job interview.

The guy turned around, mouth open to speak to Akashi, but his eyes fell on me instead. He furrowed his brows and pursed his lips.

“This is Furihata Kouki. And this is Mibuchi Reo,” Akashi introduced.

Mibuchi’s beautiful emerald eyes lit up. “Ah, you’re Furihata Kouki. Nice to meet you. Please don’t mind us, I’m trying knock some sense into this hopeless boy.”

“Reo-nee…” Hayama whined, but stomped over to his closet anyway. Akashi took my elbow and led me to his desk, letting me sit on the chair while he sat on the bed.

With the background noise, Akashi cleared his throat. “So, you don’t want to do the revenge plan anymore, Furihata? Any reason why?”

I scrunched my nose. “Uh… Akashi-kun…?”

He nodded in acknowledgement, face attentive. “Yes?”

“W-well, tell me if this sounds weird or anything, but I kinda got… used to you calling me Kouki. S-so you can, uh, still call me that. That is, if you want…” I rubbed the back of my neck nervously, eyes downcast.

“Furihata.”

I glanced up.

Akashi was smiling very brightly, brighter than anything I’d seen him do before. While it was a close-lipped smile, his eyes crinkled into crescents and I was instantly struck speechless. Holy shit. He was like… like the blazing sun. As red as the fire that it burned with.

“I would like that very much, Kouki. But I would want you to return the favour. Call me Seijuurou.”

“Call him Sei-chan!” Mibuchi interrupted, with a cat-like grin. Why did he look so scheming?

I startled, but then remembered to respond, “Uh… I don’t kn--”

Akashi shrugged in that dainty way of his. “I don’t mind.”

“Seijuur—” I tried, but Hayama cut in.

“Sei!”

“Sei-chan.”

I gave Akashi a hopeless look.

“It’s your choice, _Kouki_.”

Was he teasing me? Ugh.

“I’ll just call you Seijuu—”

“Sei!” Hayama yelled, and I grew increasingly flustered.

“S-Sei!” I yelled back, confused. Was I doing this right?

Mibuchi sighed. “Finally. Now get out a pair of slacks Hayama, you’re running late.”

Tired, I peeked at Akashi. “Sei?”

Somehow, impossibly, Akashi’s smile grew wider. “Yes, that works.”

I sunk deeper into the chair, exhaling with enough pressure to blow some of my bangs away from my eyes. I guess I was stuck with calling him ‘Sei’.

“Kouki… speaking of my younger brother… I wanted to apologize,” Akashi began, face serious. Oh. I could tell what he was about to bring up.

I sat up and waved my hand at him, “No, it’s okay, Akashi-kun, you don’t need to apologize. I mean, like, technically, you have? But even then, you don’t need to. You weren’t… yourself.”

“Sei,” Akashi reminded. “And yes. I suppose I wasn’t my original self. But he is myself as well. Simply a different version. So what he does, I technically have also done, and so it is still my duty to pick up the pieces if he’s left a mess, just like he does for me.”

“Ha-ya-ma-ku-u-u-n, please, just let me put this in your hair!” Mibuchi yelled in the background. There was a scuffling noise, and when we looked over, Hayama was lying on his stomach and kicking his legs while Mibuchi straddled his back. He was trying in vain to tame Hayama’s unruly hair with a brush and a pot of hair gel.

“Anyway,” Akashi… Sei said, going back to our conversation. He didn’t finish his sentence, so I felt it would be okay to voice a niggling thought I’d had.

“Um… tell me if this is too personal, but what pieces does the other Aka—Sei have to pick up?” I thankfully caught my name slip up, and was rewarded with another one of those beaming smiles.

But he sobered up quickly, and wouldn’t meet my eyes as he spoke. “I’ve told you that I will be taking over the company in the future. It… it gets stressful sometimes. Sometimes, when other sources of stress also pile up, he takes over for me,” he finally looked up, with an upturn of his lips that appeared almost despondent. “It’s an involuntary reaction that I can’t control. But he gets the job done, so I can’t say the whole switching thing is a complete nuisance.”

“I-I see…” I fidgeted in my seat. What were you supposed to respond to that? That was some heavy stuff, and I really didn’t want to pry any further than I already had.

There was a laboured sigh. “Done. Finally. Get up, Hayama-kun, you need to go. I’m driving you there.”

Hayama stood up with a grin. “Thanks Reo-nee! Let’s go! Buy me ice cream on the way!” He threw the door open and marched out into the hallway without a backwards glance.

“No, you idiot,” Mibuchi muttered to himself. He grabbed two bags, two pairs of keys, and slipped into his shoes before turning back to us. “Goodbye Sei-chan, Furihata-kun. Make good choices!”

With a wink, he was he stepped out the door, shutting it quietly behind him.

“I wonder what he meant by that?” I mused, looking to Sei to hear his thoughts.

To my surprise, his face was tinted red. When he realized I was looking at him, he coughed into his fist and changed the subject.

“So you didn’t answer my question. Why don’t you want to get back at Kuroko anymore?”

That effectively distracted me, as I was suddenly doused over the head with a cold bucket of reality. “A-ah, well…”

I didn’t want to tell Sei. He had worked so hard to help me with studying, and even made a study guide for me. This would just be letting him down. And, for some reason, the last thing I wanted to do was have Sei disappointed in me. Normally, I wouldn’t want anyone disappointed in me, but the thought of having Sei look at me with upset eyes and a frown seemed unbearable to me.

Lying seemed the best option. Or at least, skirting around the truth. “Y-you see, I decided that it wasn’t very nice to do that to Kuroko, and he really has done a lot for me…”

Sei scoffed a little, and gave me an amused look. “While I don’t doubt the reliability of Kuroko, and his value as a friend, Kuroko isn’t an absolute angel. But because everyone thinks he is, he gets away with whatever he wants. Especially because half the time no one notices that it’s him.”

“Th-that’s true, but…”

Sei smiled softly, then leaned past me to reach a shelf on his desk. I caught a whiff of his scent—fresh, it smelled very fresh. I wondered whether Sei had just taken a shower. Or laundered his clothes. Or something. Rolled around in grass, I didn’t know. I just knew that it smelled good.

Sei set down a piece of paper and held a pen in his hands, twirling it slowly around his fingers. “Alright, let’s make a list.”

-x-x-x-

“This isn’t very nice either,” I said, with some hesitation in my voice. It was a violation of privacy, after all. It could be humiliating. It _wasn’t very nice_.

Sei turned on his socked heel to place his hands firmly on my shoulders and stare straight into my eyes. “Kouki.” His gaze was still unnerving, even though I’d become somewhat more comfortable with him. Perhaps it was because his eyes held some sort of innate power that was a bit intimidating.

“S-Sei,” I replied, because I wasn’t sure whether he still found it irksome when I did not reply to things that didn’t necessarily require a response.

“Please take out the list.”

I sighed, but did as I was told. Reaching into my back pocket, I pulled out a tattered piece of torn notebook paper folded about three times over. Akashi removed his hands, crossing his arms and waiting for me to read it out loud, as I had done previously.

“Things Kuroko has done to me in the two months that I have been his roommate, a list by Furihata Kouki, with assistance from Akashi Seijuurou. Written by Akashi Seijuurou. Words added by Furihata Kouki, because it seems my words are not enough. Torn by Furihata Kouki, who claims it was an accident when in fact it was _not_ ,” I looked up to narrow my eyes at a smug-looking Sei. “It _was_ an accident, I _wouldn’t_ tear the paper out of embarrassment.”

Sei simply shrugged, as if he was doing me a favour by letting me believe what I did.

It seemed obvious that he wasn’t about to budge. I decided to simply continue on with the list. “Number one, he led me to believe that I was rooming with a ghost for the first two weeks, and only stopped because I figured it out. Number two, he told Kawahara that he believed I was taking part in black magic, making Kawahara, Mitobe-senpai, and Koga-senpai hold an intervention for me,” I lowered the list. “I still think that part wasn’t his fault. I mean, the way my things were arranged kind of looked like I was trying to summon something. And I did have a book about the history of black magic with me.”

“Trust me when I say that Kuroko has enough sense not to jump to a conclusion like black magic,” Sei said.

I made a noise of disagreement, but continued, “Number three, when he was broke, Kuroko borrowed money from me to the point where I also became broke. That also wasn’t his fault, y’know. He can’t help being broke.”

Sei sat down on my desk chair and crossed his legs with the sort of grace that shouldn’t have come naturally, but did. “I can guarantee that he became broke because he spent his money on gifts to send back to his dog. And he spent your money on vanilla milkshakes. Because he always puts money aside for food.”

“But he loves his dog! And milkshakes!” I protested. It seemed like a worthy cause.

Sei pinched the bridge of his nose, shutting his eyes. “Please let me handle your money from now on, for your own safety.”

I ignored his jab at my ability to handle money and instead finished off the list. “Number four, he is violent when he throws pillows at me. Number five, he locked me out of my room. Number six, he shut the door on P-Prince Sei’s face. Number seven, he told me that… Prince… Sei had jaundice. Number eight, sometimes I feel personally victimized by the way he looks at me, as if he is thinking about rebelling against my orders.”

“Well done.”

“Number six and eight have nothing to do with me,” I reminded him.

“They have to do with _me_. And therefore, they also concern you. Because we are now what they call ‘partners-in-crime’,” he countered, standing up and then climbing up onto my desk to adjust the camera anchored onto the wall in the corner of my room.

“And what about the prince thing? Why won’t you let that go?” I cried, refolding the list messily and jamming it into my back pocket.

Sei smirked down at me. “I won’t ever let that go. It’s funny.”

“Asshole,” I grumbled, but extended my hand to Akashi as he hopped off of the desk.

He did grasp my hand, but I felt it was unnecessary. He seemed to have perfect balance. Sei let go of my hand and then sat back down at my desk to type a few things into his laptop.

“Alright. The link is ready. All we need to do is wait for Kuroko then send it out,” he said, and I leaned over his shoulder to survey the screen. It showed Sei sitting at my desk, and me standing next to him. I waved a hand experimentally, and the me on the screen also waved. “Hm. It’s good that it doesn’t lag.”

The lock in the door clicked and I straightened my spine out of surprise. Sei grabbed my elbow and pulled me down. “Look natural, Kouki. Natural,” he instructed, relinquishing his hold, and changing the browser window to show his lecturer’s class website.

“Akashi-kun,” Kuroko greeted as he walked in, tossing his bag on his bed and shucking off his shoes, placing them on the shoe rack. “Furihata-kun. I hope you guys are well.”

“Y-yeah,” I choked out, eyes just barely skimming over my roommate. If I didn’t interact too much, maybe then the plan would go without a problem.

“Kouki, we have to go,” Sei said, shutting the lid of his laptop, zipping it into his case, then stowing it away in his bag. “It was nice seeing you, Kuroko. Goodbye.”

As Sei got up and walked past me, he grabbed my elbow and dragged me along with him. I twisted around to be able to follow him, putting on my slippers and waving at Kuroko over my shoulder. He shut the door behind us.

 I went over to the elevators and pressed the ‘down’ button a few times. Ugh. I was feeling bad again about the prank. He just had to go and act nicely.

“Your acting is terrible. That wasn’t very natural at all.”

I winced, scratching my jaw. “Y-yeah, well…”

 “Though, granted, my own acting wasn’t award-winning. I’m in no place to judge,” he smiled cheekily at me, then walked past me into the elevator when the door opened with a small _ding_ sound.

I was rooted to the spot, eyes wide and unseeing. That may have been the cutest smile I had ever seen in my whole life. That included my baby niece’s smile. His eyes crinkled the slightest bit and looked absolutely mischievous, his mouth stretched into a wide smile that showed his teeth, and his overall countenance made it seem like he was on the verge of laughter. I loved it. I wished I’d caught a picture of it.

Sei’s hand shot out to grip my forearm and drag me into the elevator just before the door shut. “What were you waiting for, Kouki?” he asked, pressing the lobby button then fixing me with a curious stare.

“I—ah, um, I got distracted by something,” I answered biting my lip and doing my best to avoid his eyes by watching the digital numbers count down as they passed each floor. Oh my god. I was just distracted by Sei’s smile. His smile. And his eyes. His face. I thought it was cute? Oh no, this was not good. Not good at all.

Sei’s red, red, very fluffy looking hair filled my vision and tricked me into meeting his eyes, which seem worried. “Are you alright, Kouki? Are you still worried about privacy? Kuroko can take a little prank, I assure you.”

Oh shit, now I was hyperaware of his hair! And the little flecks of gold in his red eyes. Were his eyes always that bright?

I stumbled back until I hit the wall. “Ah, n-no, this is okay. I’m okay. Are you okay? I’m okay.”

Slowly, Sei nodded his head, but his eyes never left mine. “I’m fine.”

The elevator pinged, and when the door opened I raced out into the middle of the lobby, stopping next to a pillar so I could lean on it, catching my breath. It was hard being in a confined space when you were suddenly rudely reminded that the person sharing that space was very, very attractive. In every aspect. All aspects. Probably nothing could be unattractive.

Glancing back at Sei as he left the elevator and waited for me by the lobby exit door, I confirmed my suspicions. Nope, he was absolutely attractive. Maybe even gorgeous. Despite his thick sweater and fall coat, you could tell that he was in shape, and had muscles in all the right places. His jawline was defined, he had a strong nose, and his legs were shapely yet strong. Even his hands were perfect. Long fingers, calloused palms, and nicely trimmed nails.

This wasn’t good.

“Kouki?”

I didn’t trust my voice. I just smiled and trailed behind him as he opened the door and stepped out into the chilly weather. Ah, I should have put on a light jacket. A beat up university hoodie simply would not do. But I sucked it up, shoved my numbing fingers into the pocket of the hoodie, and followed Sei. I didn’t ask where he was going, and he didn’t tell. Sei wasn’t very fond of small-talk, it seemed. But I didn’t mind. If I spoke, I’d sound like a pre-pubescent boy again. Why? Because now I could see that his ass was perfectly shaped as well. I didn’t ask for this.

Eventually, I realized that Sei was going to The Zone, and I prayed Kawahara was on duty today, so that I could at least have some semblance of comfort.

Walking into the café was a blessing, as it instantly melted away any of the cold that had found its way into my bones. Sei chose a table in the corner and placed his backpack and laptop bag on it. “Watch our stuff, Kouki, I’ll be back. A mocha, right?”

“A-ah, you don’t have to buy me—”

He put a hand up and smiled. “I want to, though. Please let me.”

I nodded and sat down on one of the polished metal chairs. Dumping my bag on the chair next to me, I scanned the room for any familiar, comforting faces. Kawahara wasn’t on duty today, but Mitobe was. He was talking to Tsuchida. And if Mitobe and Tsuchida were somewhere… I searched a bit harder. Ah! There. Koganei and Tsuchida’s girlfriend Mari, who were sitting at a table working on homework. Next to them, Izuki was working hard on something as well, occasionally lifting his head to say something to Hyuuga, who would shout something back at him, and Aida seemed to be egging him on. Finally, Kiyoshi, my dorm building’s RA, sat at the end of the table with a serene smile on his face, trying to placate Hyuuga.

It seemed like all the upperclassmen from my dorm floor from first year were there! I wanted to get up and say hi, but I didn’t want to leave our stuff alone. With a sigh, I settled on simply watching them interact.

I didn’t have to do that very long, however, as Tsuchida turned his head and caught my eye. With a grin, he lifted his hand in a wave, nodded towards me to notify Mitobe, and then came over, sitting down in chair across from me. “Furihata-kun! Hey.”

Tsuchida was shy. But he was also a very good listener, right up there next to Kiyoshi and Mitobe. The only difference was that Tsuchida always gave sound advice, in comparison to Kiyoshi (his advice always carried a tone of teasing with it that made you think he was joking) and Mitobe (Despite being a fairly cautious person himself, he was always one to encourage others to take risks. I supposed that was why Koganei enjoyed being around him so often. He let Koganei get away with whatever stupid stunt he wanted to pull that day). As such, he was dubbed the dorm floor’s resident therapist. Tsuchida didn’t mind the title much.

But, as a side effect of being the resident therapist, Tsuchida always brought a sort of calming presence that made you want to spill all your secrets to him. Which meant Tsuchida knew most of everyone’s inner thoughts. Tsuchida could easily use his knowledge for evil. I was sure that he had enough information to bring down the whole school, if he wanted to. But he was a kind, sweet soul who just wanted to hang out with his friends and his girlfriend, and have a good time.

“Hi Tsuchida-senpai. How are you?” I asked, doing my best to hide away all traces of the apprehension I was feeling earlier about Sei and his hotness.

He shrugged good-naturedly. “I’m okay. Mari-chan and Koga have a test coming up, so I don’t get to see her as much. It’s a little lonely,” he ended with a small laugh.

Right. Tsuchida had a girlfriend since high school. He’d managed to keep a relationship going for so long. He was obviously the right person to talk to about this stuff.

“A-ah, Tsuchida-senpai… I was wondering…” I began, with some hesitation. I peeked over at Sei, who was standing in line while typing away on his phone. He looked like he’d just walked off of the runway. How was the light hitting him so nicely, what the hell? At least the line was long, and it was a new employee working the cash. I had time to talk.

“Hmm?” he asked.

“I-I… um, what does it mean if you’re f-friends with someone, and it’s all good. But then suddenly you realize your friend is really attractive, and it’s like a basketball to the face, or something. I’m not gonna lie, it just happened to me like two seconds ago. Sh-should I give it time? Should I ignore it? D-do I talk to my friend about it? It just happened, so is it too soon to tell? I just wanted to talk about it b-because it was kind of scary how a-attractive my friend suddenly seemed to me. Wha—”

Tsuchida made a ‘whoa there’ gesture, and I stopped rambling. He spent a few seconds digesting the information, or at least it seemed that’s what he was doing with his thoughtful look, and then looked up at me with a fond smile.

“You have a crush,” he stated.

I blanched. “What? Senpai, it _just_ happened, I don’t think it’s long enough to—”

“Feelings don’t abide by time,” Tsuchida said very wisely. “But don’t let the whole crush thing frighten you. It’s okay. You’re friends with them, right? It might not be unrequited. Give it a little time, and then tell them when you feel ready. No need to rush.”

“B-but…”

“Ah, Mari-chan looks like she wants to go, I’m gonna head out. I’ll see you later, Furihata-kun. Text me if you wanna talk,” he said, and then he was dutifully making his way over to his girlfriend, who was stretching. Her face looked exhausted. He pressed a kiss to her forehead and began to help her with packing away her work.

Suddenly, Sei was approaching the table at a rapid pace, carrying both drinks. His face seemed… distracted.

He carefully placed the drinks in front of the both of us, then wordlessly pulled out his laptop, opening it up and typing it a little.

“Thanks, Sei. For the drink,” I said, almost bashfully. I was an idiot. Why was I acting shy now?

He threw a smile in my direction, but didn’t take his eyes off of the screen. Finally, he stopped typing and picked up his phone.

“Okay, so I’m going to text everyone the link to the livestream we set up in your room. I’ll tell them that all they need to do is comment on what Kuroko is doing, so he feels creeped out. That should be sufficient, yes? I’ve sent you the link as well. You should forward it to your friends who know Kuroko.” Sei said, already typing away. He wouldn’t really make eye contact with me. It felt weird having his gaze on you, but when you got used to it, it was even weirder to _not_ have his eyes trained on your face.

“Y-yeah…” I answered, even though there wasn’t really a need for it. I busied myself with sending out the link from my phone to Fukuda, Kawahara, Himuro, some of the mutual friends we had that I knew from my first year dorm-mates, and Kagami. But I wasn’t sure about Kagami, he didn’t check his phone very often. Oh well, at least the link was sent. He could check it if he wanted.

Eventually, he put his phone down, took a deep breath, then finally looked me in the eye with a lighthearted expression. “You can’t see the screen from over there, Kouki, bring your chair here.”

“Y-yeah! Of course!” I said, stumbling over my feet to shove the chair to the other side of the table, inwardly sighing with relief. He’d finally looked at me. I was beginning to wonder whether he’d figured out that I had managed to develop a tiny crush on him in the span of five minutes. I tripped a few times, but managed to plop myself down next to Sei with a heavy sigh. That was harder than I’d expected.

A glance at the screen showed Kuroko sitting at his desk, dutifully working on something. Hm. Maybe he wouldn’t do anything weird. That would make the whole prank boring.

The prank was pretty straightforward. Sei just “happened” to have a high quality camera lying around, so we decided to hook the camera up to corner of the room, and wirelessly connect it to this website that was a free livestream host. Then, we would just send the link to all the friends we knew, and then tell them to text Kuroko every once in a while commenting on what he was getting up to. It would give him the frightening feeling of being watched, and it would be amusing to see him display the emotion of panic.

Well, if he ever _did_ display it. He was still working at his desk. Did he even have his phone near him?

While we waited, Sei cleared his throat. “Kouki, was there someone at our table while I was in line?”

I nodded, a little nervous. “Yeah, it was my senpai Tsuchida. I was… asking his advice. He’s good at that stuff.”

Sei looked like he wanted to say something else, but instead nodded. “I see. He seems like a nice person.”

I grinned easily at that. “Tsuchida-senpai is one in a million. That’s why his girlfriend is so adamant on keeping him, probably. They’re high school sweethearts.”

Sei’s shoulders loosened quite considerably. “Is that so…” he hummed, distracted again. The both of us fell into silence, watching Kuroko write into his notebook.

At the fifteen minute mark, I spoke up. “Do you think he knows, Sei?” I murmured, it was getting a little boring.

Akashi pondered the possibility, but ultimately shook his head. “No, I took care to put the camera in a place where people don’t usually look.”

“This is kind of… AH, Sei, look!” I excitedly pointed at the screen. Someone must have texted him, because Kuroko was reaching for his phone that sat on his bed.

“He’s reading it… and reading, oh, look, he looks a little confused,” I narrated, barely able to contain my laughs, grabbing Sei’s shoulder and shaking it a little in excitement. “And now he’s looking around!”

Sei grabbed his phone. I watched as Sei texted “Confused?” to him. I outright cackled.

“That’s really good, Sei! Look, he looks so… so…,” I couldn’t find the right word to describe it.

“… Confused?” Sei supplied, and I lightly punched his arm.

“Yes!”

The whole prank thing was finally picking up, and I’d completely forgotten about the crush thing. Which was good, because now we were both grinning as Kuroko thumbed through the myriad of texts he was probably getting. He even got up to look out the window, then opened to door to check the hallway.

Even Sei was stifling small laughs, and that made me laugh even harder.

Until it happened.

I supposed the door was knocked on, because Kuroko calmly said something, and the door swung open to reveal Kagami.

I tensed. I’d texted Kagami about the prank, was he going to expose it?

A glance at Sei told me that he was also watching the scene intently.

Kagami and Kuroko spoke for a while, Kagami settling down on Kuroko’s bed and cracking his fingers. But then, Kuroko got up from his chair and… moved to stand in between Kagami’s legs?

“Uh… Sei?” I whispered.

“I don’t know, Kouki,” Sei whispered back.

And then they were kissing. It started off soft, but in no time Kagami had fallen back, and Kuroko was going to town on his lips, straddling Kagami. At one point it began to look like they were about to have clothed sex.

Akashi promptly covered my eyes with his hand.

“Sei! I can’t see!” I protested, squirming.

“You shouldn’t see, Kouki!” Sei said authoritatively. He did sound a little surprised though. Or, very surprised. Or horrified. I couldn’t tell.

I grabbed Sei’s hand and forcefully pulled it down. They were still going at it.

“Did… did you know about them, Kouki?”

“… No…”

Just then, Kuroko sat up, panting a little, and turned his head in the direction of his phone. It was probably buzzing with messages. Then… he tilted his head back to stare directly at us, smirking a little.

“Holy crap!” I yelled, grabbing Sei’s shoulder again, shaking him. “Did you see that, Sei! What the fuck! He knew! The bastard knew!”

Kuroko, despite knowing, obviously had no qualms with showcasing his affection (or lust) for Kagami, as he had gone back to letting Kagami mouth at his neck.

“We should probably end this now,” Sei said, sounding a bit uncertain. Nonetheless, he clicked the livestream off then sat back, eyes wide. He ran a hand through his hair. “That backfired.”

I couldn’t help it. The whole thing was so ridiculous, so stupid, that I cracked up, roaring with laughs.

And Sei joined in too.  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is laaaaate. And very loooong. And all over the place LOL i dont know i just wanted to get something out. Let me know what you thought! There are probably a few mistakes so feel free to point that out. 
> 
> If you wanna follow me on tumblr, I'm here  
> http://gllowingllanterns.tumblr.com/  
> and here  
> http://imagining-with-knb.tumblr.com/
> 
> Thank you so very much for reading!
> 
> Love,  
> Me


End file.
